Idahoans leave school, work to join coordinated Free America protest in Boise
A large crowd in Boise, many of them students at local high schools, showed up at the Idaho Capitol on Tuesday afternoon as part of a nationwide protest regarding many issues and President Donald Trump’s administration.
The demonstration was part of the Free America Walkout led by several organizations, including the national Women’s March, and rallies took place in hundreds of cities. One of the larger turnouts was in Los Angeles.
The coordinated walkout was meant to “turn momentum into lasting power,” the movement’s website states. It is about “leveraging labor power,” and the movement calls for participants to walk out of work or school, pause spending, advocate, and contact congressional and local legislators.
A variety of issues dot the movement’s advocacy, including living wages, better work conditions, health care, reproductive rights and curbing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In Boise, the Idaho 5051 organization, Idaho chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Defend Immigrant Families Coalition and Idaho Babe Vote chapter led the crowd to the Capitol steps.
Eric Myricks, describing himself as a moderate Democrat running for liuetenant governor, gave a message to the crowd rooted in finding unity when it comes to many issues the country is facing under Trump.
“We are finding each other right here and right now. All over Idaho and as we rise, we are not rising as individuals, we are rising together as a unified community,” Myricks said. “This is where our community reasserts itself, not as nostalgia, but as necessity. Community is what Idaho has always relied on.”
Myricks spoke about labor unions in the state, and said there is a need for fair pay and safer conditions for many industries, including health care, service workers and construction workers. He said “unions are not foreign to Idaho’s history.”
He also noted the need for advocacy.
“A walkout is a signal, not a solution,” he said. “What follows determines whether this becomes a moment or a movement. Community must outlast the rally.”
A high school student who walked out of her classroom at Borah High in Boise — a teenager identified only by her first name, Ella — said she joined the rally because she wanted to stand up for her future, especially in a heavily red state.
“It is scary as a young person because we’re stuck in Idaho. We’re asking ourselves, should we stay in this place like this to fight for the causes that so many people are avoiding, or to go to a more progressive area so you can find more like-minded individuals?” she told the Idaho Statesman.
