This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
Thousands have gathered across multiple protests in Denver on Friday. Many businesses and school districts closed around the state as part of national “ICE OUT” demonstrations against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's immigration actions. The protest called for “no school, no work and no shopping.”
“Genuinely, the energy here is electric, people fighting for our constitution, fighting for democracy itself, and fighting for a just and humane immigration system,” State Sen. Julie Gonzalez told CPR News at a protest in La Alma-Lincoln Park in Denver.
Earlier in the day, around a thousand students marched from St. John’s Cathedral to the State Capitol and then joined demonstrators in La Alma.
“Violence is violence, and people are people,” an 11th grader from Denver East High School said. “I think that's why a lot of students showed up today, because we're just sick of injustice and the inhumane actions of our government.”
Mandy Hostetter teaches a constitutional law course at East High School. She said she's proud to see her students taking what they've learned to the streets.
“They understand the three branches of government. They can name them. They can say what their powers are, what they can and can't do,” Hostetter said. “And they see that being violated really often right now. They see violations of the 4th Amendment, the 1st Amendment, the 2nd Amendment, the 5th Amendment, the 14th. It goes on and on, and they want to make sure that doesn't happen.”
“My sign says, ‘Silence sides with harm.’ I'm a firm believer that if you stay as a bystander and just watch what's going on, then you're choosing the wrong side,” said another 11th-grade student at East High School who joined classmates from the Students Demand Action Club. “Choosing no side is the equivalent of choosing the wrong side.”
The protests come following nearly a month of violent ICE activity in Minneapolis and the resulting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents. Both Good and Pretti had ties to Colorado, leading to several smaller-scale protests in the state in recent weeks.
“They take somebody who dedicated his life to helping other people and curing the sick, and they shot him in the street. So that's why I'm taking a stand,” said Matthew Anderson Duncan, of Pretti, who was a VA nurse in Minneapolis. Duncan is an oncology nurse who joined his wife, a teacher, at the protests. “People are out here suffering for no reason because of ICE.”
Ahead of the demonstrations, social media platforms were flooded with small businesses declaring their plans to close for business on Friday in solidarity with a planned “National Shutdown.”
“The hospitality industry in Colorado is diverse and under a lot of stress given recent reports of heightened enforcement activity,” said Sonia Riggs, president and CEO of the Colorado Restaurant Association. “Our members are worried about their teams and their businesses, and we fully support them as they navigate operations in this uncertain time.”
Leading the movement in the Denver area were teachers, who started turning in their plans to be absent from work on Friday. Districts said they had no option but to cancel all classes at the last minute, which upset some parents.
“I just think it was really poorly handled,” said mom Randi Maves, who found out this morning school was closed. She has a 5-year-old who goes to Isabella Bird Community School in Central Park as part of their Early Childhood Education program, as well as a 1-year-old. “In my mind, if they knew there were going to be potential teacher shortages, they should have assigned substitutes earlier in the week.”
Other parents used the day as a lesson.
“I know there were a lot of parents who, you know, could be inconvenienced by this,” said mom Sofia Solano, who was planning on attending a protest with her 17-year-old. “But to me, having ICE in Colorado, and what's happening in Minneapolis, is far more of an inconvenience than having our kids out of school for one day.”
There have been no reports of injuries or issues with police as of Friday evening. More protests are expected throughout the weekend.
“We've spent the past year learning about our government and how it works,” a senior at East High School told CPR News. “Watching this unfold is against everything that we've been taught and everything that we believe should be happening right now.”
