Copyright The Oregonian
A new student club affiliated with a movement started by the late conservative influencer Charlie Kirk is sparking both protests and counter-protests at David Douglas High School. The 2,700-student high school, the largest in Oregon and among its most diverse, serves east Portland. A spokesperson for the school district says the formation of the club, which is part of a national network of high school clubs affiliated with Kirk’s fast-growing organization, Turning Point USA, has been approved by administrators there. But dozens more students than expected showed up to its first meeting on Oct. 8, prompting safety concerns from its founder, according to the building’s leadership. Many of those who showed up were from long-established student affiliation clubs, like the Black Student Union and the Latino Student Union, who were curious about the purpose of the new club, said Ollie Truhlar, a student at David Douglas High School who has been following the story for its student newspaper. Due to “the high number of students and the resulting disruption before adult supervisors arrived,” the rest of the meeting was postponed, said Aidé Juárez-Valerio, a spokesperson for the David Douglas School District. From there, she said, club members and school leaders worked together to plan for the next meeting, with administrators and security officers planning to be in attendance. But before a second meeting could take place, news of the disjointed start hit social media, with conservative activists urging an in-person show of support for the club’s teen founder. Organizers of that rally did not respond to outreach from The Oregonian/OregonLive. But footage of the day is circulating on social media and was captured by cameras from KATU-TV. The footage shows about 40 people who came to the after-school rally and flag waving near school property. Their presence drew dozens of students to counter-protest. Jasmine Sprague, the director of youth ministry at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in east Portland, was at the school to pick up her child, a freshman. She said she spoke to some of the protesters, who told her they had no personal connection with the school and did not need one to know that it was “oppressing white male students.” Sprague said she didn’t hear name-calling or profanities from the students who were counter-demonstrating, but she said there was some light “taunting,” and questioning the flag wavers’ presence and purpose. Truhlar, the student journalist who was also on site, said there were also some sincere conversations between students and the protesters, who found some common ground around free speech protections, but said those exchanges eventually devolved into screaming matches. “[The adult protesters said] racism isn’t real, it’s only real because you believe it is,” Truhlar said. “That’s one of the things that made it go downhill. Most of the students there were people of color, but every single one of the protesters was white.” After about half an hour, the confrontation petered out, those on the scene said. School leaders said the club’s next meeting is now scheduled for Oct.22. Truhlar, a sophomore, said the events were eye-opening: “I feel like our school is a lot more politically opinionated than I had thought. I didn’t know that there were enough people at my school who felt strongly enough about politics to argue about it.” District policy specifies that students may “verbally express their personal opinions, but these opinions shall not be allowed to interfere with the rights of others to express themselves … Students have the freedom to assemble peacefully, [but] conducting or participating in any assembly that interferes with the operation of the school or classroom is prohibited.”
