From: YAWR <<email obscured>>
Date: Apr 27, 2006 3:52 AM
Subject: [YAWR-LIST] Press Conference TODAY agianst repression of students
Please come out to support these students today at the press conference if
you're available. . .
*For Immediate Release:*
Media Contact: Ty Moore, 612-760-1980
Authorities shut down walkout peace concert
*High school students threatened with suspension for passing out April 28
Walkout leaflets*
PRESS CONFERENCE Students facing repression will speak this afternoon
*Thursday, April 27th at 3:30pm*
*Minneapolis Community and Technical College, 1501 Hennepin Avenue*
*Free Speech Plaza, on the steps leading down to Loring Park*
While mobilizing students for the April 28 anti-war walkout and peace
concert, the constitutional rights of youth organizers have been
systematically violated by college and high-school administrations across
the Twin Cities area.
Thousands of students who are expected to attend the walkout rally at the
University of Minnesota at noon on Friday had planned on marching through
downtown to the Free Speech Plaza at the Minneapolis Community and
Technical College (MCTC) for a peace concert featuring, Desdamona, Kanser,
I Self Divine, and others. After initially granting students permission to
hold the concert, MCTC administrators suddenly reversed their decision
Monday after talking with police.
In the words of MCTC student and anti-war organizer Janae Marshal, "Due to
lack of support and horrendous lack of communication by the MCTC
administration, our Peace Concert was declared off. We can only come to
the conclusion that as soon as the Minneapolis Police Department began
harassing us and putting extreme pressure on the administrators, the
decision became political."
At Jefferson High School, Bloomington, students have been threatened with
suspension for passing out walkout leaflets or even "voicing any knowledge
of the walkout."
Students at St. Paul Central High School have a similar situation.
According to Sean Foltin, a Youth Against War and Racism activist at
Central, " On Wednesday before school our fliers were confiscated by
[Principal] Mackbee while they were being distributed We were then told
that if we were found passing out leaflets we would be suspended for
'willful disobedience'."
Despite efforts to disrupt the April 28 walkout and intimidate youth
activists, the walkout will continue as planned. Several thousand students
from dozens of high schools and colleges across the metro area will walk
out of class on April 28 to protest the occupation of Iraq, military
recruitment in schools, and the diversion of funding for public education
to the war.
*The April 28th Walkout is organized by:*
Anti-War Organizing League, Socialist Alternative, MCTC Students Against War
and Racism, * *Youth Against War and Racism