Teens skipped school to get radical in the streets

NEW YORK — The kids are getting radical.

Teenagers and environmentalists in more than 100 countries took to the streets Friday to protest global inaction against climate change, and in New York City, the kids’ message was not only a cry to protect their own and future generations, but also a direct rebuke to decades of bipartisan American policy.

At Manhattan’s Columbus Circle, where thousands of students gathered under cloudy skies, the speeches and chants focused on climate, American capitalism, racism, and imperialism.

Diego Delgado, a 16-year-old who goes to high school in the Bronx, told VICE News that his participation in the protest was about generations “beneath us” — as well as for those lost to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. Delgado flew a Puerto Rico flag atop a statue near Central Park.

“Capitalism is one of the biggest destroyers of Puerto Rico,” he told VICE News, prompting 14-year-old Valentina Marcilio to join the conversation and object to U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
“Look at Venezuela: There’s all that oil there,” said Marcilio, who attends New York’s LaGuardia High and whose family is from Puerto Rico.

A message many young protesters kept returning to was their concern for people even younger than themselves. And they pointed to their upcoming voting power, saying they won't back politicians who aren’t supportive of a Green New Deal and other so-called radical action against climate change.

“I’m only 17. I want my kids to be able to live sustainably,” Eva Furlani, a LaGuardia High student, told VICE News. “My birthday is Feb. 2. I will vote in the next primary.”

Eventually, police broke up the rally at Columbus Circle, after kids began crowding statues and tossing around an Earth-patterned beach ball — but it was just one of many rallies at New York on Friday. Protest took place at Washington Square Park, City Hall, and the Museum of Natural History. There was even a die-in outside the United Nations on Friday morning. One of three main organizers of the youth climate strikes in the U.S., 13-year-old Alexandria Villasenor, has been protesting outside the UN for 14 weeks.

The climate crisis, which scientists say will become irreversible in just 12 years, has captured the imagination and concern of the world’s youth, who have staged protests against major American leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell.

Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg seemingly triggered the climate strike movement by walking out of class every Friday last year and refusing to return until Sweden’s general election. One of the movement’s three major organizers in the U.S., Isra Hirsi, is also the daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar.