When students at Boswell High School led an anti-ICE walkout, the principal used a megaphone to address the crowd, newly-obtained video shows.
Students at Boswell High School organized a walkout to protest ICE during school hours on February 2, according to CBS News. Now, a recently-unearthed video on TikTok shows Principal Ryan Wilson using a megaphone to instruct participants.
“If someone saw what you were doing, and heaven help us, decided to oppose what you are doing and got into some degree of physical altercation with you while you were trying to exercise your right, that’s on me,” Wilson told student protesters on February 2. “That’s on me as your principal because I did not create a space that was safe for you to exercise your rights and speak to something that is obviously important to you.”
“I want to help you in a sense that it’s not just Boswell,” Wilson added. “It’s Chisholm, it’s Saginaw, it’s Eagle Mountain, it’s a collective effort.”
Walkout Not Endorsed; Comments Taken Out of Context, per District
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD Communications Director Matthew LeBlanc told The Dallas Express the school neither sponsored nor supported the walkout. He said the video does not include the full context of Wilson’s remarks.
“The principal was attempting to communicate that while students may have strong feelings about national events, leaving campus during the school day creates significant safety risks,” LeBlanc told The Dallas Express.
Gov. Greg Abbott has publicly warned school districts to enforce the law against student protests during school hours, as previously reported on by The Dallas Express. He also warned that school officials could be liable for any injuries during these protests.
Wilson “repeatedly instructed students to return to class immediately,” and said participants would face “disciplinary consequences,” according to LeBlanc. He said that when they continued down the road, district police monitored the event for safety.
“They were not escorting or supporting the demonstration,” LeBlanc said.
Viral Claims of On-Campus Socialist Training Debunked by Boswell High
One week later, on February 9, the left-wing National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression helped organize another walkout at the same school. Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization also promoted the event.
The Dallas Express asked about the involvement of socialist groups in the walkout, citing a video from NAARPR-Dallas from the event.
“We were unaware of this, as we’re not familiar with those organizations,” LeBlanc said. “That did not take place on campus, there are no school officials present, and while you do not know this from watching the video, that did not even take place during school hours.”
Days after the second walkout, online personalities began claiming school leadership allowed socialist groups to train students for the walkout. The allegations quickly went viral – even reaching the popular account Libs of TikTok.
The Dallas Express reached out to the X account, where these claims apparently originated, but did not receive a response in time for publication. Meanwhile, DX asked the district for comment.
“It did not happen. There was no training on campus. There was no approval. There was no involvement,” LeBlanc said at the time. “Boswell High School does not permit outside political organizations to conduct training of students on campus, and no such activity was authorized or facilitated by the school.”
Communist-Aligned NAARPR and FRSO Reportedly Supplied Marshals, Signs, and Hype
The Boswell walkout on February 9 was part of a “national day of action” against ICE enforcement by Legalization for All, a national movement to give legal status to illegal aliens, according to the socialist publication Fight Back News.
Students and NAARPR-Dallas reportedly led the walkout. The alleged communist-aligned group reportedly provided “marshals,” protest signs, “chanters,” and a “Legalization for All” banner.
“NAARPR Dallas helped students at Boswell high organize their march and protest today in Saginaw,” the group posted on Instagram at the time.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization also promoted the event in a joint Instagram post with NAARPR and Legalization for All.
“It is amazing to see the next generation of freedom fighters take democracy into their own hands and protest against ICE and demand the end of the Trump agenda, as well as legalization for all,” said FRSO member Glen Reed.
The NAARPR was founded in 1973 in Chicago, to wage “organized action” against perceived oppressors, according to its website. It specifically grew out of the movement to free Angela Davis, who was charged and acquitted of murder, conspiracy, and kidnapping, according to The New York Times.
Davis allegedly supplied weapons in a 1970 California courtroom shootout that killed a judge, a militant, and two inmates. Davis was also an avid supporter of the Communist Party USA.
Meanwhile, the FRSO calls itself a “national movement of revolutionaries fighting for socialism in the United States.”
“FRSO is recruiting and building towards the creation of a new Communist Party based on Marxism-Leninism,” the group’s website reads. “This is necessary to lead the way to socialism and liberation.”
The group’s Dallas chapter released a statement on February 9, calling on Texas labor groups to oppose Abbott.
Abbott has publicly warned school districts to enforce policies against walkouts, according to The Dallas Express. In early February, the State Board of Education also requested an investigation into whether district or school officials were promoting activism.
