LONG ISLAND CITY — Dozens of students walked out of class at Bard High School Early College in Queens on Wednesday, chanting and holding signs to protest President-Elect Donald Trump.
Kids from the school filled the sidewalk outside their building on Thomson Avenue and 30th Street at about 1:30 p.m. to picket and discuss their fears in the wake of Trump's upcoming presidency.
"We're one of the most diverse schools in a very diverse city, so having a president-elect with a very hateful rhetoric that targets almost every single student at our school — we felt that was unacceptable," senior Izzi Stevenson, 17, told DNAinfo New York.
She said many of her classmates have been participating in protests since the election — including one on Tuesday, where hundreds of the city's high schoolers marched through Manhattan — but decided to organize their own to support fellow students feeling fearful in the wake of Trump's win.
Among those is Murshika Emu, 17, a senior at Bard High School Early College who helped organize the student protest Wednesday.
"After the election, the whole school community was overwhelmed with fear and grief," she said. She worries the head scarf she wears might make her a target for anti-Muslim harassment.
"Hearing [Trump's] opinions on Muslims — it's frightening, because I don't want to be scared to walk around in my own country," she said, adding that she tries to keep a "low profile" and be more cautious while taking the subway.
"I stand in the middle of the platform just in case someone is going to push me off," she said.
The school, a partner of Bard College where students take college-level courses in their last two years, serves around 600 kids — 34 percent of them Asian, 11 percent black, 17 percent Hispanic and 35 percent white, according to Department of Education statistics.
"We have such an amazing diverse community at this school," said senior Kate Howell, 17. "It's really about showing our fellow students that we’re all together, and we're going to stand up for them."
Thousands of New Yorkers, of all ages, have taken to the streets since Election Day to protest Trump's victory, rallying outside his hotels and Trump Tower.
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