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Indybay Feature

First Casualty of Student Walk Outs!

by jesheekah (jesheekah [at] yahoo.com)
Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthonys truancy and participation in the student protests.
1st Walkout Death!
Body: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS CONFERENCE
Sunday, April 9, 2006
12:00 p.m.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
710 S. Sultana Ave., Ontario, CA 91761

Louise Corales, whose 14 year-old son, Anthony Soltero, died on April 1 after committing suicide, will speak to the community and ask for a prayer for her son this Sunday, following the 11:00 a.m. mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Ontario, California.

Eighth grader Anthony Soltero shot himself through the head on Thursday, March 30, after the assistant principal at De Anza Middle School told him that he was going to prison for three years because of his involvement as an organizer of the April 28 school walk-outs to protest the anti-immigrant legislation in Washington. The vice principal also forbade Anthony from attending graduation activities and threatened to fine his mother for Anthonys truancy and participation in the student protests.

Anthony was learning about the importance of civic duties and rights in his eighth grade class. Ironically, he died because the vice principal at his school threatened him for speaking out and exercising those rights, Ms. Corales said today. I want to speak out to other parents, whose children are attending the continuing protests this week. We have to let the schools know that they cant punish our children for exercising their rights.

Anthonys death is likely the first fatality arising from the protests against the immigration legislation being considered in Washington, D.C. Anthony, who was a very good student at De Anza Middle School in the Ontario-Montclair School District, believed in justice and was passionate about the immigration issue. He is survived by his mother, Louise Corales, his father, a younger sister, and a baby brother.

Ms. Corales will speak to the community after mass on Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. She will ask for a prayer for Anthony, whose funeral and burial are scheduled for Monday, April 10 in Long Beach, where he was born.

CONTACT: R. SAMUEL PAZ
(310) 410-2981
(310) 989-6815
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Comments (Hide Comments)
by OPINION
I THINK ITS TIME 2 STOP WAVIN AMERIKKKAN FLAGS N FUCKIN WIT NON-VIOLENT BULLSHIT...DA POLITICIANS N ADMINISTRATORS HAVE NEVER BEEN OUR ALLIES....N DA PRINCIPALS JUS RUN THIS SCHOOL SYSTEM MEANT FO NUTIN BUT GETTIN US READY FOR JOBS....FUK DAT MAKE THESE PUNK ASS NIGGAS PAY....
by cp
It is conveyed clearly in the tone of this article that this principal apparently told the eighth grader false information, that the eighth grader than naively believed because he didn't understand the law better. It's difficult to see how you read this to mean that the author implies that the student actually would be vulnerable to arrest for skipping school to attend a demonstration.


In my own experience, junior high type teachers, especially those teaching gym or in administration, frequently employ false threats of danger to achieve their goals. For example, n the 7-8th grade antidrug curriculum, there is often an attitude projected that many children are living on the edge with all sorts of dramatic pressures ready to suck them away. The concept I'm talking about is visually illustrated with at the 'teen mania' website that the fundamentalist group holding the mass youth tent revivals such as in Giant Stadium last week. When they flash those negative statistics about how at-risk teens are supposed to be, you'd think that teens have these wonderful dramatic mysterious secret lives, when really they're stuck with a stack of homework worksheets at home without transportation.
http://www.teenmania.org/corporate/index.cfm

This is evident in all sorts of radio public service announcements about how if you don't talk to your drugs before age 13, they're probably already on the way to addiction. The same goes for sex and joining gangs. I personally think that these "watch it, you're on a bad path" threats really only work if given out rarely. Programs like 'teen mania', and D.A.R.E., a months long antidrug courses run by police officers that turn out to actually increase drug use among teens, can backfire by implanting in kids minds that they should be 'at risk' and are always walking on a precipice. After a while, they will become more curious about negative lifestyles. I just used awareness of my alcoholic relatives to choose to avoid drinking and my class came the year before DARE started, and the 7th grade teacher just plugged in a Geraldo drug special showing footage of heroin addicts which we laughed at and reenacted during lunch, and then we moved on to other things to occupy our mind.
by Droopy
I think Brian Hamilton is an idiot for what he wrote below. Nobody is askin' your sorry ass to hire anyone. Shit i never went to school in JR High and High School and I still got an engineering degree from UC Berkeley. Many would hire me sucka. My point is that missing the time that these students have missed for a great cause will not in any way hurt them educationally. Shit, if anything they will be stronger students when they continue through school, since they will be standing up for their shit and learn how to be leaders. So think before you talk idiot.
by Dormilona
I completely agree with what Droopy said and I resent the condescending attack by "Ya Basta" as well as condescending and arrogant statement by Brian Hamilton. (Some of us HAVE to work for people like that, but few of us would WANT to!)

I have a college degree, but I got much of my education outside the schoolroom, much of it from immigrants, including undocumented immigrants (while much of the so-called education I got inside the schoolroom was unbelievably narrow and often simply WRONG).
by gl
the principal should not have threaten him in the first place, adults abuse there title way too much. this will be in his conscious forever.
by (
The vice principal obviously committed a crime in making false and malicious threats and is therefore guilty of murder. The district attorney should be told to bring charges against this thug principal. That should teach these school administrators a good civics lesson.
by Marta Delgado (marta.delgado [at] harlandale.net)
If this child had been white he would have been told what a great leader he was. We live in a country where speaking up is only relevant to the political party you are in or the color of your skin? Shame on the administrators for not aplauding this boys efforts.
by jackee (Jackee007 [at] aol.com)
This is very sad. I feel for the family and friends of the student. I feel for the student that did not have an adult he could go to in his time of need. He had to result to suicide to resolve his issues. The principal was in the wrong, but did not cause his suicide. This poor helpless child felt he had not way out, and that is the sad part...

I protested saturday to stop the immigration bill from passing (the one that would make it a crime to be in this country illegally), and I am for student protestng and making a point. The schools should give these students a way for them to protest, not punish them.
by STEP MOM (angelina93003 [at] yahoo.com)
HE WAS A LOVING SOUL...HE WAS NEVER DISRESPECTFUL AND LOVED HIS PARENTS SO MUCH...HE HAD EVERYONE HEAR FOR HIM...IT JUST HURTS SOO MUCH THAT THESE TEACHERS OR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS DONT KNOW WHEN TO DRAW THE LINE...WE WILL ALWAYS MISS HIM AND I HOPE IN HIS NAME HIS DEATH WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE HOW MUCH OUR KIDS ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE A CHANGE IN THIS WORLD BUT ARE STILL OUR CHILDREN AND NEED US.
by anonymous
This is just one more fatality due to the oppressiveness of this system. The system that grants each individual a portion of freedom and swears to uphold justice and keep the peace. Where is young Anthony's justice, and how can there be peace in such a hypocritical nation. It's own citizens suffer from the oppression and hate that plagues the "ememies" of the state. Anthony stood up for what he felt was right and his death will not be in vain. My deepest sympathy goes out to Anthony's family. He will not be forgotten.
by anonymous
that's right if a white person did protest they would encourage him/her. But when it's a different race they discourage them and blackmail them to keep their mouth closed. This was not suicide it was murder!
by prieta (hermelindanieto [at] yahoo.com)
I first heard about what happened to this young person at a rally I attended here in San Diego, the thought remains in my mind and the knowledge of such tragedy has left a deep wound in my heart. I agree with other comments that have been posted by other readers that the vice principal is the one who pushed Anthony to the point of suicide, this principal needs to be held accountable for taking a large part in Anthony's death, think about it, how many other teenagers might be feeling the same as Anthony, this should not have happened to Anthony and it should not happened to anyone else something needs to be done about this. Please continue to keep me informed on anything with regards to Anthony. Anthony deserves justice. To me Anthony is our Nino heroe de Mexico, el se murio por lo que el creia.
by ontarioparent
Daily Bulletin April 16, 2006
http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_3715500

Juan Valencia, a De Anza student who marched in Los Angeles Saturday, said he had been with Anthony on March 28, the day of the walkout. The pair participated in the protest only briefly, Valencia said, then left because they were ''sort of scared'' by the police presence.
_________________________________________________

If Anthony was a protest organizer/leader, why was there only 1 classmate with him, and why did he miss the protest on the main day? The major event was Mon 3/27, the student walkouts on 3/28 numbered less than 300, and was nowhere near De Anza middle school. The police presence was concentrated at Indian Hill and the 10 frwy, almost 5 miles from the Anthony's middle school. Juan Valencia needs to explain exactly where Anthony's group went to protest because there was no reportable walkout activity anywhere near his school, and not even at Ontario High School on Tuesday (where there were scores of walkouts the day before), about 1.7 miles from their own school. If he was intimidated by clustered police presence that morning, he had to have traveled, on foot, nearly 10 miles in less than 2 hours to get back to school by lunchtime.

The pair? I thought he was a protest leader.

<<L.A. Times 04/15
Jeffrey F. Cohen, one of her attorneys, said Anthony did participate in a student march for immigrant rights and that two classmates "will provide that testimony in court."
"Anthony was passionate about immigration issues," Cohen said.>>

So in less than one 36 hours of public news, the TWO classmates who will testify presence at the student march now becomes a SINGLE classmate who told a Daily Bulletin reporter (Mason Stockstill) at the 4/16 L.A. rally that it was just the pair of them on the day in question, and it was "only briefly."

So, did Anthony have 3 followers? (Sharon McGehee, superintendent, Daily Bulletin 4/14)

Did Anthony have 2 followers? (Jeffrey Cohen, attorney for mother, L.A. Times 4/15)

Did Anthony have only 1 follower? (Juan Valencia, classmate/participant/witness, Daily Bulletin 4/16)

You see how the facts supporting this cause erodes daily from 4/14-4/16?

I feel really bad that boy chose to take his own life.

But do we really want to say he did it because of his activities in organizing student protest rallies for immigrant rights? There was a march in Downtown L.A. on Sat 4/15 in memory of Anthony Soltero's fight for immigrant rights.

He took ONE friend 5 miles on foot (right!) to attend a protest only BRIEFLY?
by libertarian
thug he is this principal. worse than the one who had an appt with my wife and I and our h.s. son. Son, dressed preppy best, we were greeted by the ignoramus: "look at you dressed like a gangster."

It was sonys last day in that institution of perversity. With parental blessings, and a big comedown that I was best off not taking the thug outside for a lesson in civility.

So this thug who lead to a suicide. For which he is probably not very upset. Hey the kid obviously was unstable-
Shit, its to know, care and react appropriately that we hire school staff, is it not? when we want careless shits, we can have the kids incarcerated. Cops are cheaper than school staff. Probably more sympathetic in many cases, although there are notati9ons above of intimidation. I got that too, until I was older than the kiddie cops. Still, now and then one makes a real ass of himself and here is more than agism, (whos the daddy, whos the child) sometimes there is real pathology- After an animated but entirely exchange with an oficer wherin I happened to point and sin of sins- touch him lightly on the chest, he spent 5 minutes getting redfaced and agittrated all about how he had the power, the AUTHORITY to bust me for assult.......

A competent lawyer, a n expensive expert psych for witness and I could of maybe had him off the force, but who wants to leave home in a small town with a nut like that got a thing for you and yours. I'd rather get a biker upset...
by baby blue (babybluelopez [at] yahoo.com)
Anthony was young he's the same age as my little brother just like him my little brother also went to the march he is also 14 years old he walked out of school with a lot of his freinds and went to the march that went on here in Portland, Oregon and Antony's story that was on the news I said the vice principle should be penalized for what he did to Anthony he was the reason Anthony did this I send my condolinsice to his family and even though I didn't know him he'll always have a place in all of our heart he was just helping his Raza.
~~~~~~~~~~~ R.I.P. ANTHONY YOU WILL BE MISSED~~~~~~~~~

You guys should call the vice principle (909) 986-8577
by one23
yet another case of bad leadership. schools and their bad systems. this principal should not be allowed to teach anywhere near a school or children. he should publicly apologize for his irresponsible behavior. there are tons of teachers like this. they don't deserve the title.
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