Revolutionary Worker #1203, June 15, 2003, posted at rwor.org
Two Oakland students talked to the RW:
Samantha: "If they can keep us ignorant of what our potential is, we'll never know our full potential. But if someone starts to like open up people's minds and starts to question why is this happening, I think they fear that, and that we'll overtake the school... It's up to us to teach the youth what they don't want us to know."
Marijane: "The principal thinks kids should be quiet, jump when he says jump. They're unhappy that we're not like that. Well, you know, welcome to reality!"
Samantha: "After the first walkout, people were hyped up--`When's the next one? Those people don't deserve to die, you feel me?' A lot of students felt like, our education is just going down the hole--and they're going to war. They don't care about us.... There are no jobs, and what about people that drop out of school? Those are our brothers and sisters over there, they suffer the same oppression that we suffer from, probably even worse."
Marijane: "A lot of people are saying war is over, but it's not over. Just another example of the U.S. abusing its power. Maybe I'm hypocritical for speaking out against the U.S. while I'm reaping the benefits of living here, but I feel that I have a better chance of changing things because I live here, you know."
Samantha: "Yesterday I was watching the Discovery Channel with my mom, and they were like showing the ants. It's like they all worked together for a common goal, and it was so amazing to see that. They respect the female, they protect the female, anything for that female. It's like, in society now, people don't respect the female even though we're the givers of life, you know. And I feel like those ants represented us, the proletariat, you know. And it's like they worked for food to feed everybody, they had the equal same amount of food. Like, they'd go out and they'd kill scorpions that were so much bigger than them and had so much more power and force, and they would bring 'em back to feed everybody, you know, nobody was left out. And it's like, that showed me that we the proletariat, if we all unite, like those ants, and work together for a common goal, we can overcome those obstacles. It was hella uplifting."
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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