Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Students at Howell High School braved the elements Friday to peacefully protest as part of a national movement of student-organized walk-outs against ICE and the Trump Administration.

Students started out at “the Rock” and then headed downtown to the grounds of the Historic Howell Courthouse carrying signs.

The event was originally intended to be a walk-out after 7th period on Thursday but organizers changed plans for the peaceful walkout to be held after school let out Friday.

When WHMI stopped by, students were energized but peaceful and cars passing by were honking in support. Some students also spoke about “love over hate” during the event.

One enthusiastic student Isabella Marie White said she was proud to be protesting. She told WHMI “We are protesting ICE because we need ICE out of the streets!” She said the reception was great and things went much better than expected – noting they received so much support. As for any main message, she said “The only thing stronger than hate is love, and we all need to come together and love each other”.

Two other Junior students, Marshal and Elle, were also in nice positive spirits – saying they’re protesting ICE because they’re deporting families – even American citizens – and all the people here don’t stand for that. They said “the violence is unnecessary, love thy neighbor does not have restrictions, we don’t want that in Howell, we don’t want our community represented by that...it’s not what we believe in”. Both added “We love all the positive support, it’s amazing, and makes us happy people are coming out to support us…we had a couple haters but mostly positive - with positive definitely outweighing the hate a lot”.

Most districts, like Howell, have appeared to be taking a neutral stance – neither endorsing nor opposing events but recognizing students’ right to express their personal views and voices.

Meanwhile, students in Chelsea also hosted a walkout Friday to protest ICE. That moved from the High School to downtown to Pierce Park for a student gathering and speakers.