SJND Palestine Protest Walk Around Alameda
Written by Ethan P. ‘27 and Giana H. ‘27
Giana’s Article
On Friday, January 26, Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School participated in a walkout to support Palestine. The walkout was organized in advance by 12th grade student Ela Habelitz-Yucel, and students found out about the event when permission slips were passed out on the campus during lunchtime. Any student who wanted to participate needed to have their parents’ permission, and I was one of the students who participated. According to Habelitz-Yucel, “The walkout was for a free Palestine, to educate and encourage our schools and students faculty and staff to be active in this movement and speak about it at school as it is so important. We are watching genocide happen right before our eyes.”
On Friday morning, the students gathered in the quad at 10:25 a.m. and waited for Ela to give instructions on why we were marching and when it was time to leave. When 9th grader Ricardo L. was asked why he participated in the walkout, he explained, “It allowed me to support a great cause.” The energy was powerful and enthusiastic as students began chanting “Viva, viva, Palestina” and, “Free, free Palestine.” The crowd left the quad and headed towards Encinal Avenue to Jean Sweeney Open Space Park, the designated meeting spot to join with students from Encinal High School, NEA, and ACLC.
When the students arrived at Jean Sweeney Open Space Park, some of the students began to share stories from the people who are currently in Gaza and what their experiences have been like. The stories were very emotional and hard to hear. At this location, the students encountered an elderly man who was angry and started to scream and yell at the group. He told the group that protesting would only worsen the war, and that it was wrong to support Palestine. The group began to defend themselves and their beliefs by telling him to go away and ignore him. Even though some students may have used bad language, it was good that the situation did not get worse than it could have, and the group continued on to their next destination.
The group marched down to Starbucks on Webster Street, which was only a few minutes away. The leaders from each of the schools decided to make Starbucks the next location due to the belief that the company supports genocide and has been pro-Israel. The group walked through the Starbucks parking lot but did not stop, causing the protestors to catch the attention of others. The stop at Starbucks did not last long, and the group made their way to the next stop, McDonald’s. The leaders explained to the students that we were going to McDonald’s due to their support of Israel.
The walk down Webster Street to Central Avenue continued to catch the attention of people. Many people were honking their horns and some even hung out of their car windows hanging Palestine flags. When the group arrived at McDonald’s, they circled around the drive-through twice and stood in front of the restaurant for close to ten minutes to protest. Then. the students from Saint Joseph Notre Dame headed back to the campus down Central Avenue, while the other schools went their separate ways.
Walkouts are not a regular thing at the school and according to Ela, this was the “second one of the school year and the first one took place this past November.” Walkouts are supposed to be a way to show unity in the causes that are important to people. According to Lieba, “If there was another walkout, I would consider doing it again.” It is very important for students to express their beliefs and show the support for causes that they are passionate about.
Ethan’s Article
On Friday January 26th at 10:20am there was a walkout set up by SJND students to promote awareness of the Palestinian-Israeli war happening right now. This protest was in the making for a long time and almost everyone who went had signs and opinions to share with the town of Alameda. Along with all the protesters that came from SJND, there were also other area high schools that participated in this event, leading up to around 150 people. Everyone from these schools, including SJND, Alameda High, and Encinal High, were set to walk around town and certain fast food restaurants to voice their opinions. Today, I’ll be interviewing protesters that participated in this event and ask why they chose to support this event and if they learned anything from this experience.
Looking at the amount of people from SJND that were at the protest, it is very noticeable that over half of the participants were either sophomore or junior students. This protest had a big impact on not only the older kids but the new generation as well. Nicolas, a 9th grader at SJND, pointed out that this protest is all about “supporting what you believe” and that he is glad he did because now he is more aware of protests.
Regarding some of the older kids that participated in the Palestine protest, they were asked the same questions as Nicolas and answered slightly differently because they are older. Some were only going to the Palestine protest because they thought “it was good exercise” and others “liked supporting a cause that is good” (anonymous student ’26). Part of the reason why this student thought that this walk was good exercise was because as a group people walked around 2 ½ miles around town. This was effective in its own ways because walking around so much while chanting helps people understand just how passionate these students were to help Palestine by protesting. Other students only went to the Palestine walk with no purpose other than they were hoping to miss a class.
Not only was this a protest involving signs and voices, but there were also kids coming in cars with flags blasting music from EHS and AHS. These kids were protesting with us and helped spread awareness by honking their horns and following us so everybody could see the flags and know about the protest at hand. They were helping us gain more attention, which was gaining the attraction of other people in the street and in cars.
In conclusion, this act was a collaborating protest with multiple schools including EHS and AHS all promoting their opinions in the streets of Alameda by using signs and cars. Some SJND students old and young also have become more aware of the things happening in this world and will hopefully start projecting their own opinions to what they think is right. This event not only teaches students about the outside world and what’s happening but could also inspire others to help share their passion.
