Thoreau must be turning over in his grave as Oklahoma punishes students for protesting ICE

Oklahoma’s thin-skinned lawmakers have suddenly found their xenophobic views challenged by unlikely foes: high school students.

Normally relegated to the political sidelines, the students have seen enough of Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s mass deportation efforts, which has resulted in untold numbers of nonviolent immigrants getting caught up in the dragnet.

Janelle Stecklein

Much to the consternation of lawmakers, these pupils are joining students across the U.S. who are walking out of class in droves while exercising one of the few powers they have available to them to express their disapproval of the GOP’s aggressive immigration crackdown — civil disobedience.

In case you need a civics refresher like our elected leaders, civil disobedience – which includes walkouts – is nonviolent resistance to authority in an effort to try to force policy change. It traces its roots back to ancient times, including to the origins of Christianity, when early believers pushed back against the insistence that they worship Roman gods.

In most places, the fact that students learned and are embracing the lessons of philosopher Henry David Thoreau’s 1849 essay on civil disobedience would be a sign of a strong education system.

But alas, this is Oklahoma.

Here, education outcomes consistently rank us near the bottom in the nation. Is it any surprise that we also have leaders looking to penalize students who are getting their first taste of exercising the First Amendment rights they’ve learned about in class?

Some Republican lawmakers are urging school leaders to examine whether students who walk out should be considered truant. They’re also calling to have teachers’ licenses revoked for not stopping them from protesting.

In short, they’re once again putting schools in the uncomfortable position of serving as a buffer between their bigoted policies and students who live in reality that isn’t black and white.

As a reminder, Oklahoma Republican’s anti-immigration efforts have included a controversial law that would boot people from our state if caught here without legal authorization (that is the federal government’s job). And they’re considering Senate Bill 1554 to make it a felony for nonprofits to help immigrants who are seeking asylum or are in the country illegally. Under this plan, nonprofits apparently will have to check their clients’ immigration status (also the federal government’s job).

And they’ve done little publicly to reject ICE’s enforcement efforts here. In south Oklahoma City, agents have been stopping trucks used by roofers, electricians and painters.

Legislators’ push to punish children and their teachers who don’t like these policies would be laughable if at least one school district wasn’t taking this buffoonery seriously.

Last week, Mustang Public Schools confirmed that 122 students had received in-school suspensions — yes, you read that correctly — for missing a few measly hours of class while protesting ICE. According to the district, late in the morning of Feb. 5, students “participated in an unsanctioned demonstration” near the district’s performing arts center while classroom instruction continued uninterrupted for the remaining youth. After the demonstration, some students chose to leave campus during lunch.

Students who receive in-school suspensions are typically removed from their normal classroom and must complete their school work in a different area.

The school district’s handbook indicated that the district didn’t have to suspend them — they could have given them detention instead, but the superintendent chose to punish them by having them miss even more specialized instructional time.

Make that make sense.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 found that students have protected free speech rights on school campuses as long as it’s not substantially disruptive. In 2021, the nation’s high court found that schools cannot punish students for nonschool-sponsored speech.

As far as I can tell these protests occurred outside during school hours, which appears to put truancy policies and aggrieved lawmakers in a face-off against free speech protections.

In Oklahoma, districts have the latitude to set their own policies dealing with truancy, which is usually considered chronic absences or skipping school for less noble causes. Up until now, lawmakers have rightfully focused on students who are chronically absent instead of protesting ones.

One wonders if students would have received a slap on the wrist if they had walked out to protest something that is less high-profile, divisive or more appealing to Republicans. I don’t remember these lawmakers criticizing former State Superintendent Ryan Walters’ demand that schools disrupt their day to honor conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

After all, other districts apparently haven’t taken such drastic measures in response to these walkouts.

While I was attending an event at the Capitol last week, I told some people what I was writing about. There were strong opinions.

One person told me about the time they walked out when they were in high school to bring attention to school violence, like shootings. He said he faced no consequences.

Another person told me that he supported the consequences the Mustang Public Schools superintendent handed down. He said the students have a right to protest, but knew — or should have known — there would be repercussions. Living with those is a choice they made.

He said students should protest on their own time, not during school hours.

But having this protest after school hours would defeat the purpose of a walkout. It wouldn’t get the same attention. (In Minnesota, tens of thousands left work or closed shop this year, as the Trump administration bore down on their state. Weeks later, the federal government said it was leaving.)

Also, the entire point of free speech is protection from government retribution for speaking out.

Gov. Kevin Stitt – who over the past seven years has shown us all how not to act when we disagree with each other – of course happily cheered on the district’s heavy-handed actions.

“Young Oklahomans: Free speech is sacred, but truancy robs your future. Stay in school, build skills and make your voice heard responsibly,” he posted on Facebook.

That’s rich coming from the face of the National Governors Association’s “Disagree Better” campaign, which purports to believe “Americans are deeply concerned and exhausted by the hyperpartisanship and polarization in our country… We’ve forgotten how to persuade without hating each other.”

What better way to highlight tolerance and how to “disagree better” than by celebrating the castigation of students exercising their right to peacefully protest?

Students have very few rights. The vast majority certainly weren’t old enough to vote in our last statewide elections where we selected state leaders and those representing us in Congress.

I, for one, am proud of them for standing up for what they believe despite facing stinging fallout for doing so.

Free speech is a tenant of democracy, and though many Oklahoma leaders seem to ignore it, ours is a nation built by people from other countries.

Maybe Oklahoma legislative and school leaders can find the courage to keep our history in mind as they consider these students’ futures.

Oklahoma Voice (oklahomavoice.com) is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, supported by grants and donations. Oklahoma Voice provides nonpartisan reporting, and retains full editorial independence.