Portland Students March Against ‘Build-A-Wall’ Banner
by Juan Ramirez OPB | May 23, 2016 6:47 p.m. | Updated: May 24, 2016 8:17 a.m.
Students from Portland high schools and colleges marched Monday to protest a banner hung in Forest Grove last week. That banner suggested the United States should “build a wall” along the border with Mexico.
Students from Portland high schools and colleges marched Monday to protest a banner hung in Forest Grove last week. That banner suggested the United States should “build a wall” along the border with Mexico.
It echoed a proposal put forward by presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
About 200 students marched from Pioneer Courthouse Square to Portland State University.
Sandra Andrade is with the group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán and helped organize the demonstration.
“The incident that happened at Forest Grove was the breaking point,” said Andrade. “It is not an isolated issue or one more situation added to the discrimination our community goes through everyday.
“We believe that every person should have a safe space to be included in,” she said. “School administrations are failing at addressing the issues our minority students are facing.”
Students from Washington County held similar demonstrations last week, even after the student who put up the banner made an anonymous post online to apologize.
Protesters said the banner being taken down hasn’t erased anti-immigration sentiment fueled by Trump’s campaign
Editor Ryan Haas contributed to this report.
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