De Anza College students marched to San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza for the day of action protest last Thursday. Five buses picked up students at 1 p.m. The buses held around 300 students, while an estimated 400 students drove themselves.
Five additional busses not needed were sent back, according to organizer Kenny Li. The money from those five buses was refunded to DASB.
Over 500 students signed the waivers permitting them to attend the event. Members of De Anza Restoring Education and Students For Justice members spent the morning rallying and encouraging more students in front of Tent City in the main quad to join the protest in San Francisco.
Before the buses departed for San Francisco, De Anza President Brian Murphy presented students, with 500 red sashes the faculty made for them. “Everyone of us are deeply appreciative of what you’re doing. We’re in complete solidarity and support this work … It’s very exciting, it’s veryheartening,” said Brian just before the buses left the loading zone.
Each bus was led by an organizer who rallied students and motivated them with chants, snacks and sing-a-longs. On bus number one, Marlo Custodio used a megaphone to encourage students to chant well known protest hymns including “the students united, will never be divided.” Students were asked to come up with their own chants. One of the more popular chants was “Say hey, say ho, cali schools, they need more dough.”
Students were dropped off on the corner of 24th and Mission Street. The crowd combined with other protestors from various K-12’s and other community colleges along the way. They arrived at the Civic Center after marching through the heart of the Mission district around 4:45 p.m.
“Whoever planned the route was a genius,” said SFJ member Matthew Bradley about walking next to Bart stations and viewing the working poor. “There are a lot of problems out there in the real world.”
A raucous crowd greeted De Anza students. They met in front of a large semi-truck, which was converted into a stage. There was a band, faculty, teachers, union members, and student speakers atop the flatbed truck. The United Educators of San Francisco hosted the evening’s entertainment.
A crowd of protestors also chanted in front of city hall, closing down the street. Police put up a gate in front of the City Hall steps and made sure protest stayed non-violent.
Custodio opened the ceremonies with a spoken word performance about the importance of student activism, waking up from apathy, and the fact that civic involvement can be very effective.
About 25 other students, teachers and community representatives gave motivational and informative speeches and performances before De Anza student Cain Ramirez spoke.
“You know what?” Ramirez said. “This could fail, but in all honesty, I kept pushing forward, because I was hopeful. I was optimistic. And here I am speaking before thousands upon thousands of people from all over northern California!”
The day of action in San Francisco remained non-violent. The San Francisco police department sent out groups of about five officers to watch over various spots of the plaza. They also had two vans, one SUV, and four police cars parked on Polk and Grove streets in case of riots.
De Anza students who took charter buses left the zealous crowd at around 8 p.m. After leaving the rally, student morale was still high. The chanting did not stop in San Francisco.
Students who were registered voters were asked to sign a petition on the way back to De Anza. The petition’s content was about changing legislative voting requirements to pass a budget or to raise taxes from a two-thirds majority vote to a simple majority.
“It was extremely successful,” D.A.R.E. organizer, Ali Haji, said. “I’m pumped up for the next one. I feel really hopeful and I want the protests to keep growing.”
“Just seeing everyone all together was amazing,” said student Amira Farah.
The buses of students returned to a performance by The Blank Manuscript behind the Hinson Center at De Anza. Students gathered around for one large group photo and conversation of what happened that day.
“Before the march there was a lot of energy. After, there was twice as much,” said Gabriel Rodriguez.
“We succeeded in letting the California government know they are depriving us of our resources to be successful,” said student Tevita Tapabalu.
