RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Due to the immigration raids in Charlotte and Raleigh many students stayed home from school this week. Other students took notice and decided to speak up for their peers.
Eyewitness News received video from Rolesville High School junior Logan DeLaurentis.
He tells Eyewitness News how the walk out started from a viral social media post.
"I think that's up to everyone else to decide and it's up to them for what they want to do with that. Protests going on is a great thing to some people and it's a bad thing to a lot of people. I think that at the end of the day people standing up for other people is what matters most," said DeLaurentis.
He tells ABC11 it started peaceful, there were tense moments, but overall everyone came together.
"What people don't tend to see a lot is that was the one moment, the one day out of my entirety of high school, where everybody was together and there was just a warmth," he said.
DeLaurentis says that teens care about what is happening in the world, and their administrators allowed them to express their views.
"They definitely cherished the fact that our students are going to do something and it's up to us to know and to provide the safety in this and to be vital figures and make sure that this is a learning experience," said DeLaurentis.
The desire to speak out is spreading. Eyewitness News received several emails from students at other schools like Heritage High School and Wakefield High School.
Josiane Mvula sharing they plan to hold a peaceful walk out Friday morning. She tells us her school community has been impacted by ICE raids.
"A lot of my friends have skipped school, not shown up to lots of things," said Mvula.
Josiane tells us this cause hits home. She and her family immigrated from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Her and peers want to stand up for what they believe in and hope others will do the same.
"Everybody, every immigrant, immigrant or not, you're being affected by this because the day America stops being an immigrant country and it's not going to be great and you know, it's going to lose the thing that makes America great, which is the freedom and the diversity and the cultures," said Mvula.
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