Danbury High School students walk out over immigrant slurs, Trump

Danbury High School students staged a walkout Thursday morning to protest authorities’ decision not to prosecute a man who taunted minority students after school Jan. 20. Danbury High School students staged a walkout Thursday morning to protest authorities’ decision not to prosecute a man who taunted minority students after school Jan. 20. Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Buy photo Photo: Carol Kaliff / Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close Danbury High School students walk out over immigrant slurs, Trump 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

DANBURY — About 500 students walked out of Danbury High School Thursday morning to protest a decision not to prosecute a Trump supporter who taunted immigrant students as they left school one day last month.

Student organizer Iman Farah, 16, said that while the school principal had issued a statement deploring the Jan. 20 taunting incident, it was a “catch-all paragraph” that did not address student fears about their safety. The superintendent said nothing, she said.

What began as protest against the inauguration-day harassment became a rally about what students called President Trumps’s fear-mongering, his promise to deport undocumented immigrants, and the “radicalization” of his followers, who students feared would return and harass students knowing that the man who showed up at the high school on Jan. 20 was not penalized.

“Nothing happens to him?” asked Tyra Hodge, president of the high school’s Black Lives Matter organization. “What does that tell other radicals? ... He said the whole school should be deported.”

As administrators tried to convince the crowd to go back inside more than an hour after the walkout, an undocumented student fought tears as he urged about 150 classmates still sitting on the football field’s bleachers to remain.

He said he has lived in constant fear since President Trump was elected. “I love this country like a second mother, but I wake up every morning and go to bed every night afraid,” he said.

Thursday’s walkout was the second student action of civil disobedience in a week. Last Thursday, some classes were half empty, students said, as many students stayed home for the national “A Day Without Immigrants” protest.

Deputy Superintendent William Glass said officials haven’t yet “crunched the numbers,” but “there was a noticeable increase in absenteeism that day.” Danbury has the largest high school in the state with about 3,000 students.

Save for snowball-throwing, the protest was peaceful, police and school officials said. Glass said his administrators, “of course,” wished students remained in class, but he was happy students “exercised their right to have their voices heard.”

School officials caught wind of the walkout late Wednesday night, but didn’t find any concrete plans on social media, “just rumors,” Glass said. Officials alerted teachers and other administrators, but made no effort to force the students to go back to class. When the walkout began, officials alerted all teachers and school security officers as well as police — some 12 officers were there.

“I’m pleased with how the administration handled it,” Glass said. “And I never cease to be amazed and delighted with the degree of respect shown by the students of Danbury high.”

Throughout the rally, Principal Dan Donovan repeatedly asked students to go back inside and to watch their language. “F— Donald Trump” was heard frequently.

At one point, Donovan walked with students on the football field and requested, name by name, that they return to school.

The Jan. 20 incident, which was caught on a video that quickly went viral, caused an uproar from local immigrant advocates.

In the video, an apparently intoxicated man showed up at Danbury High hours after President Trump’s inauguration and shouted obscenities at minority students, including “You’ll be out of the country, you f------ illegals.”

Police have said the man was punched in the face, but he declined to press charges against the students involved. Donovan, on Wednesday, told students what he knew about the incident and when he knew it. School officials only learned of the taunting later in the evening after the video had already gone viral, he said. When it happened, around 2:10 p.m. Jan. 20, officials first thought it was a car accident in the parking lot, he said.

After reviewing the video, police applied for an arrest warrant, but prosecutors declined to file charges.

Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky said at the time the case was reviewed thoroughly by a prosecutor in his office.

“We reviewed all of the circumstances of the case and the behaviors of those involved and decided that a criminal prosecution was not appropriate,” he said at the time. Students Wednesday said the man should have been arrested by officers who were on the school grounds, and he definitely could have been charged with at least public intoxication or disturbing the peace.

All students, other than six organizers, were back in class by 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, Glass said.

In a meeting with the six organizers, Donovan said he was as surprised as students were that the man didn’t face charges. “It was all on video. I thought it was a slam dunk,” he told them.

The group then talked about their experiences as immigrants in America, and the principal chimed in.

“My family came from Ireland because of famine and no work,” Donovan said.

“We’re all immigrants,” 17-year-old Hodge replied. “Some of us just have more pigment in our skin.”

blytton@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3411; @bglytton