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Walking Out Against the War

"The administrators started to hassle us, saying we were not allowed to walk out."

By Nora Harrington

On February 21, 2003 I walked out of Berkeley High School in protest of the war on Iraq. My blood was pumping adrenaline. It’s exciting to know I’m doing something that could make a difference. All of my teachers whose classes I missed knew about and were supportive of the walkout.

My friend Sade works for Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, and she organized the protest. Fliers had been circulating for a couple of weeks, and most students knew about it. Me and my friends sat around, waiting for 11 o’clock to come so we could walk up to the ROTC office at UC Berkeley. As usual, the administrators started to hassle us, saying we were not allowed to walk out, and that we needed to get to class. I heard his callous voice ringing in my ears.

We all just shrugged him off and walked out anyway, but when we got to the meeting spot, we saw only about 30 people standing in front of the Berkeley BART Station. I didn’t understand why, until I saw security officers from our school standing on the corner, turning people around. I was carrying a big sign with Malcolm X’s picture underneath the words NO WAR ON IRAQ.

The head security officer told me, “You know, you might want to turn around. I have the executive vice principal here, and if he finds out who you are, he’ll expel you.” I shrugged him off. I think if anyone is expelled, we’ll have another Tinkers vs. Des Moines on our hands, and that might make Berkeley look really bad.

I guess the most surprising thing about the walkout was the presence of school security officers. School rumor has it that on any given day, about one third of the student body cuts school, whether it’s for a whole day or for a period. You can walk off the campus at any time. The security officers will say bye as you walk out of sight, then continue their conversation.

But the day we actually walk out for a purpose, to exercise our right to participate in democracy, all of a sudden these people act like they care? I really don’t understand why.

Since there were only about 50 students waiting to march up to the ROTC office, we decided to march past Berkeley High first, chanting “Money for schools! Not for war!” and when I looked behind me two blocks later, we had a large crowd holding signs. We heard a ton of cars honking, and people waving, yelling and clapping in support. It was completely exhilarating.

When we hit the corner of Milvia Street, we saw a throng of administrators watching us, with what looked like scorn or distaste. I wanted to yell and tell them that they couldn’t keep us down, because by now the march was about four blocks long. It looked like about a thousand people. People always say that if you’re under 18, you have no voice in democracy, but today I stood up to the people who are trying to shut us up, and made myself heard.

— Nora Harrington will not be silent, no matter how many people want her to be.