The 60 juniors in Michael Gatenby’s and John Daniels’ combined History-English class at James Lick High in East San Jose watched intently, at least through most of Donald Trump’s 18-minute inaugural address. Then, coaxed by their teachers to speak, partly for the sake of the reporter in the room, a few offered up mostly tentative impressions of what they heard.
But when they put pencils to paper, thoughts quickly flowed: anger and dislike, indifference and resignation, along with degrees of optimism. They did it in 17 syllables – Donald Trump in haiku, by Generation Z.
But there were also a couple of four fingers in the air, including Brandon Mendoza, who indicated he was less sure about Trump than before. “He called out politicians and said he would give power back to people.” He said that while he doesn’t like Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants, there will be more opportunity, “and all Americans can prosper if we make more products again in America.”
Emily Brazelton said she was expecting Trump to spell out how he would keep his promises, and she didn’t hear it. But “while his victory is not my victory,” she said she was willing to keep an open mind. “I’ve been against him, and I’m still against him, but I have no choice but to really hope he won’t screw things up.”
“I’d say most students operated under preconceived notions,” Gatenby agreed. “A few seemed to genuinely listen to the speech and keep an open mind.”
The poems reflected a range of feelings, like those of their parents, some vehement, some indifferent.
“The media fed this narrative that he was a bad guy, so I studied him. Everyone else was saying he is a racist and sexist,” he said. “I looked at the news, not CNN, but Fox and Breitbart (News Network). He’s not bad, he wants America to thrive,” he said.
“As a Latino, it takes more strength to talk (positively) about Trump; it’s not the popular thing to do,”Orozco said. “I was concerned at first that I would get shunned.” He wasn’t.
“What Trump said (in his inaugural address) reinforced what I believe he will do – give power from Washington, D.C., back to people.” he said. “He is a true patriot.”
Photos by John Fensterwald / EdSource.
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