The voices of hundreds of teenagers chanting "Melt the ICE!" rang out from the snowy summit of Fort Greene Park Friday, as more than 500 Brooklyn Technical High School students went on strike from school in protest of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence.
On the hilltop by the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument, students holding homemade signs bearing slogans like "ICE is Trump's gestapo," "mICro pEnis," and "If you're an ICE agent ya mom's a hoe" huddled together and yelled their protestations into the 16-degree afternoon. They had earlier walked out of school and marched half a mile to Barclays Center and back again.
The protest was organized and led by 9th graders but attended by students from all grades. With Brooklyn Tech being one the largest high schools in America, students said, it was important they stand up for their immigrant friends and neighbors.
"There is such a diverse population at our school due to how many people who attend it, and so many of them aren't born in America," said one of the walkout's organizers, Lila Eisen, 14. "Nobody should be living and going to school and feeling not safe due to a government organization. I find that ridiculous."