AMHERST — After the fifth-period bell rang Monday afternoon at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School, about a quarter of the student body walked out in a demonstration of solidarity with marginalized groups following the election of Donald Trump.
Some 250 students left school early to march through downtown streets to the common, where they were joined by supporters of all ages for a rally. They chanted “Who got the power? We got the power!” and “Black lives, they matter where? Black lives, they matter here!”
Organizer Abigail Morris, 16, said the demonstration was not “anti-Trump,” but was rather meant to show support for women, Latinos, immigrants, LGBTQ people and others Trump disparaged in speeches during the campaign.
“It’s also a way of rallying social justice groups at our school — Black Lives Matter, the Women’s Rights Club and Sexuality and Gender Alliance,” said Morris, a junior. “We need to keep fighting. The fight is not over.”
About 40 percent of the high school’s population is a race other than white, making it among the most diverse in Hampshire County. Less than 9 percent of Amherst residents voted for Trump.