The Edina School Board meeting on Dec. 11 adjourned early following protests concerning the suspension of two Edina High School students for their alleged antisemitic comments last month after the walk-out for Palestine.
30 minutes before the meeting, protesters surrounded Door 3 at the Edina Community Center, chanting in solidarity with the student activists at EHS and for people speaking up against what they view to be the mistreatment of Palestinians.
The protest was organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on America-Islamic Relations (CAIR Minnesota). It was scheduled as “a Community and Student Protest” set to take place at 6:30 p.m. “It’s very important for us to stand with our students, our Palestinian students, our students who are standing up to fight in solidarity with the kids who are being killed in Gaza,” Julia Pearlstein, a member of MIRAC, said. “I really think it’s amazing what [the EHS students] did, and I think it’s absolutely awful that they’ve been punished for it. This is something we should reward students for…taking a stand.”
20 minutes into the protest, Jaylani Hussein, the executive director of CAIR Minnesota, took the mic. “Shame on those who are silent. Shame on those who want us to be silent. Shame on those who think we are now gonna give up,” he said. Hussein ended his speech by asking for 10 volunteers from the protest to sit in on the school board meeting, encouraging them to stay respectful.
Before the meeting officially began, Board Chair Erica Allenburg noted the importance of exploring multiple perspectives, practicing civil discourse, encouraging empathy, creating interpersonal connections, and embracing diverse identities. “As a board, we wanted to share this with our guests in the hope that as adults we model for the students of this district what civil discourse and embracing multiple perspectives looks like,” Allenburg said. “This shared understanding will enable us all to complete the important business of the district for the benefit of all our students.”