THE DEVILS’ ACTIVISTS

Shouts ripped through the air of Burlington Park, where a growing group of protesters convened for a Climate Justice Strike. People of all ages stand tall, holding sharpie-drawn signs up for curious onlookers. Speakers and Performers take a stance on a wooden picnic table, shouting over passing trains and middle-schooler’s conversations. Chants of “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” can be heard as the protesters marched through the streets of Hinsdale.

On Friday, Sept. 25, at 3:45 p.m., upwards of 50 students and adults convened at Burlington park in Hinsdale for a protest organized by “@Hinsdale for BLM,” an instagram-based activism group. There, a small group of students, including senior Mohammad Ahmadi, recited multiple speeches, a song, and a play in protest against climate change. The group focused on climate change’s disproportionate effects on minority groups as a connection between the BLM and climate activism.

After going to initial Black Lives Matter protests in Chicago, Ahmadi, was inspired to organize a protest of his own Hinsdale. Gathering together with other peers, they created the June 6 Hinsdale Black Lives Matter protest- an event which garnered upwards of 500 people.

Mohammad Ahmadi Senior and Student Activist

“If we put out a flyer that there was a protest people would come,” Ahmadi said. Ahmadi knew the momentum had to lead somewhere, so the instagram page “@HinsdaleforBLM” was created. The organization has since carried on towards other protests, including a July 14 rally against a Dupage county board member

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recently, the “Strike Against Environmental Racism” on September 25.

“There’s a big intersection between climate crisis and racial justice— environmental racism,” Ahmadi said.

Outside of that, Ahmadi works as an outreach coordinator for Earth Uprising, a climate education-focused organization, and additionally is the president of the Hinsdale Climate Coalition, a like minded, social media-based climate advocacy group. Ahmadi said he strives to bring racial and environmental change to Hinsdale and Chicago, attempting to educate through online platforms, protests, and in-person discussions.

“Our goal is to amplify (the voices of Hinsdale people of color) to show others in the community that racism does exist in Hinsdale schools and communities,” Ahmadi said.

In the modern era of social media, infographics, chain posts and even news of protests are spread through sites like Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. With the AACP citing that 75% of teens aged 13 to 17 have active social media accounts, it isn’t hard to see how starting an activism page online is apealing. And In trying times, during a pandemic, political polarization and heightened racial tensions—some/ many students are looking for a way to express their beliefs. express the “(Activism is) important for people who can vote and for people who can’t vote,” said senior Alexis Lincoln, another organizer for the Black Lives Matter protest. Lincoln had helped Ahmadi start the “@ HinsdaleForBlm” Instagram account and organize the first protest earlier this year. Alexandria Collins, junior, takes a different approach to advocacy. As opposed to organizing protests, Collins seeks to spread her messages through having difficult conversations. Participating Against Ethylene Oxide (SAETO), Student Organized Against Racism (SOAR) and more, Collins says she steps into a broad array of advocacy with one key connecting feature- discussion with her peers.

Collins works within her broad array of topics by starting conversation. Whether that be within school and district tions, or outside of school in her environmental work, she discusses with her peers and creates circles of diverse types of people to empower change. yp pp p g

Alexandra Collins Junior and Student Activist

“The first step you have to take (towards making change) is being willing to accept help, because it isn’t easy to create change,” Collins said.

“So you really do have to look to those who are surrounding you and accept their help.”

SOAR is a newly organized club at Central looking to tackle difficult discussions about race and implement them into the curriculum. Collins said that it is key to integrate race-based topics across departments, through culture presentations, town halls, or highlighting important people of color in various fields.

“Part of the goal personally is to hold these racial discussions and create leaders that are not afraid to talk about these... issues,” Collins said.

She said she hopes the organization targets injustice through correcting ignorance,citing that she doesn’t believe racism in students is formed out of hatred, and instead is out of learned behaviors.

“You can’t be afraid to call [people] out on [racial ignorance] if you hear them saying something [offensive] to someone else,” Collins said.

Additionally, Collins tackles the production of Ethylene Oxide, an issue that came up during her freshman year concerning a nearby Sterigenics plant producing the chemical. Found by the United States Department of Labor to cause increased chances of developing breast cancer, luekemia, lymphoma and more, she and her sister set off to create SAETO

spread of Ethylene Oxide in their community.

After fighting against nearby ETO plants for the past two years, the community succeeded in getting the plant shut down by the EPA ( United States Environmental Protection Agency) until further notice. Now, the organization seeks to stop the spread of Ethylene Oxide first nationwide— and then across the world. Recently, Collins has expanded to chapters across the country as well as internationally with a newly formed Guatemala chapter.

Collins said she aspires to spread hope and positivity in her advocacy, and to take a more personal spin on broader issues. While dealing with so many categories of advocacy, she stresses that it is difficult but necessary to say positive things when dealing with heavy issues concerning race and the environment.

“It’s difficult for people to change when we have this negative viewpoint, so you really do try to stay positive,” Collins said. However, some activists cite how dealing with polarizing situations can stir up controversy, draw resistance, and have people asking bigger questions.

When sophomore Nicholi Roads stood silently at the Climate and Black Lives Matter protest on Sept. 25, sporting a red MAGA (Make America Great Again) hat in a crowd of supporters, he said he sought to contradict some of the core messages of the Black Lives Matter movement, not through loud counterprotesting, but through quiet discussion. He argued that the real concern within black communities should be revolving around gang violence, not issues like police brutality.

“(I) agree with the statement black lives matter...I think if people really want to hold back, they’d be attacking gang violence in Chicago and not necessarily police brutality,” Roads said. “People aren’t going to do the actual research themselves and to find out what actually hurts the black community.”

Over the course of the protest, through the march and after reconvening in the park, multiple organizers came to talk with Roads, and other students offered him and a friend bright red bandanas to use as facemasks once the march started.

While Roads started conversations about the topics of the protest, others brought to question the reason why the protest needed to be started in the first place. Concern has been raised over the importance of advocacy for the right reasons- some said that organizers are only organizing protests for personal gain.

“When you don’t (advocate) with the right intentions then the work really doesn’t count and can’t reach the level of impact that it would if you have better intentions,” Ahmadi said.

Concern over the intention behind student activism have some worried that their personal beliefs would cause a disadvantage in college applications. Janelle Hoeksema, business teacher, said application reviewers may have an inherent bias regarding advocacy issues. “I’m concerned that depending on what you are advocating for.., I would hate for that to be a reason why somebody does or does not get into a school,” Hoeksema said.

She spoke of how in a perfect world, students would feel confident to show their beliefs to respective universities. However, due to everyone’s innate personal bias, this is not a world where she thinks that can happen.

Despite the bias within college applications, Hoeksema said she still believes that student activism is key to student culture.

Similarly, Billson Rasavongxay, the Social Studies Department Chair, said he hopes that students are informed about their ventures if they are to be actively involved in advocacy.

“I think that if we open up these discussions to have as many... perspectives as possible, it can help model the way that we want to engage (as) future students, college students, adults and so on.,” Rasavongxay said.

Like Rasavongxay, Hoeksema wants her students to be well read. But she mainly stresses that students are honest with not only themselves, but with her as well.

“I want the students to tell me what they really think,” Hoeksema said. “And more importantly, why they think what they do.”

Students in her classroom speak of their activism experiences, including rallies or protests. Hoeksema encourages students to speak up about their beliefs as long as they are not harmful or rude to others.

Rasavongxay also said he believes in students speaking up during classes and “If you’re truly passionate about it... you’re not going to want to stop.”

Alexandra Collins advocating for their personal beliefs.

“If we silence voices either politically or unpolitically...I don’t think it’s helpful for future conversations or discussions,” Rasavongxay said.

Student activism can be seen in many different forms. Through the clubs that students start, the protests and rallies that students organize, and the discussions in classrooms- students create many spaces to speak about what they are passionate about.

“ I think the really important part about being an activist is that you’re willing to kind of get down and do all the dirty work in situations where other people might not be willing to do it, “ Collins said.

Protesters at the Climate Justice strike on Friday, Sept 25 make their way down a Hinsdale street.

photo by Sofija Buzelis

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