I want to thank The Copper Courier for sharing my story about the online hate I deal with.
A lot of people ask me about this, because every time a story comes out about me, the comments section lights up with some of the most vile stuff by grown adults. The Washington Post has over 6,000 comments on my story.
I don't read them unless someone I know brings specific ones to my attention. I learned early on that the people writing these comments are either bots or adults who can't see passed their political ideologies. Either way, their opinion of me isn't worth more than getting my 3-mile buffer zone proposal introduced in Congress and getting our elected leaders to take the safety risks to students seriously.
The only thing that matters is this:
- There is an ICE detention center and a chemical storage warehouse sitting next door to each other, less than a mile away from Dysart High School and other nearby schools, and shares the same road students use to get to class.
- There still is no safety plan for students. Not from the district Safety Coordinator Mayor Kevin Sartor, not from Dysart Schools, not from the City of Surprise Government, not from Rep. Paul Gosar, and not from Department of Homeland Security.
Look at what's happening at Delaney Hall in New Jersey right now. There are nonstop protests in the streets. If that happens here, how do the students get to and from school? Surprise doesn't even have enough money to hire extra police officers.
Look at the stories of ICE agents waiting outside school campuses. Dysart High School is 60% Hispanic. To everyone who dismisses this as hyperbole: if you were a Hispanic student, and federal agents were allowed to use skin color when deciding who to stop, would you feel safe walking past an ICE detention center twice a day to get to school?
That is what I'm focused on. Not the online comments or insults.
Sincerely,
Cali Overs
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Read the Story:
The Copper Courier: Meet the Arizona teenager taking on ICE and her cyberbullies
My op-ed in the Surprise Independent: Sartor hasn't prioritized Dysart students' safety
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Follow me for current updates:
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How you can help:
1. Contact Sen. Mark Kelly, Sen. Ruben Gallego, and Rep. Paul Gosar and ask them to publicly support my 3-mile buffer zone proposal and introduce it into Congress. The more people who do this, the more pressure it puts on them to do it.
Senator Mark Kelly: Send him a message and call his office at 602-671-7901
Senator Ruben Gallego: Send him a message and call his office at 480-697-3600
Rep. Paul Gosar: Send him a message and call his office at 623-707-0530
2. Contact Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor and demand that he starts taking the safety of students seriously and creates a safety plan for students for both the ICE detention center and the chemical storage warehouse. He isn't just the mayor, he is also the Safety Coordinator for the school district.
Mayor Kevin Sartor: Send him an email and call his office at 623-222-1313
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Please sign and share my petition for a 3-mile buffer zone between ICE detention centers and K-12 schools: www.3milebuffer.com