On Monday, students at a high school in Jacksonville, Florida, protested to make their African-American history course a full-year course.
Ten Terry Parker High School students staged a sit-in with the intent to protest the school to change their current half-credit, one semester-long black history course to a full-credit, year-long course. The students believe that the subject matter being taught deserves more time and attention and that their peers could benefit from learning the material was well.
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Angelina Roque, who organized the protest, said in a video on Instagram that she and the other students would not be silenced by the police, who were called to the scene. She went on to say that the protest would “make them hear us, make them see us, make them listen to us.”
Superintendent Nikolai Vitti has since said in a statement that the students would face no punishment for protesting and that instead, the school was willing to grant the extension to the course: “I respect that students demonstrated self-advocacy and used their voice to signal concerns about their education. If there is student demand for a full-credit and year-long African-American History course, then we should and will provide it to students. We will work through the process of developing and offering that course. Students who participated in the sit-in will not face disciplinary action.”
