Immigrant youth and their allies in Houston, Texas said no to hateful rhetoric as Republican candidates took to the stage for the last night’s Republican debate at the University of Houston.
Educational campuses should be places free of harassment. But it looks like that hasn’t been the case for teenagers at Perry High in Iowa, where basketball players — many of whom are Latino — have been heckled with chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump” by spectators during games.
Local affiliate WHO reports that some spectators also harassed Latino players by “reciting things Trump has said about what he plans to do with immigrants and their children if he is elected.” It’s left the school’s students and faculty stunned, where 48% of the student population is minority.
“It’s honestly disrespectful. That’s how I take it. I hear it during the game, on and off the court. Everywhere I go,” said Shammond Ivory, a senior on the team. “We are all aware of racism, it’s alive and well in small portions but it’s alive and well and it’s just hurtful to see that’s what they resort to,” said another student, Kevin Lopez.
“Dallas Center-Grimes Activities Steve Watson confirmed the chants at Monday night’s game and said the issue has been addressed at the school. He declined to comment on whether or not any students were disciplined,” WHO reported.
(We’ve documented many other instances of Trump and his supporters harassing Latinos, immigrants, Muslim-Americans, and African-Americans here.)
Still, the students are not allowing themselves to be intimidated by the crowd’s taunts. Said Ivory: “As soon as I hear something like that, it just triggers me and it makes me strive for more and to do it for my team, coaches and my community.”
Other young immigrants have similarly chosen to be proactive in response to hatred stemming from Donald Trump and his supporters. When Maricopa County’s Sheriff, the notorious Joe Arpaio, arrived in Marshalltown, Iowa to endorse Donald Trump before the Iowa caucuses, young activists and community leaders responded with a voter registration drive and silent protest.
