Pelham Memorial High School's Social and Political Activism Club organized a March for America to celebrate rights and values that the club's members think are under threat. Ernie Garcia/lohud

Tess Darrow, left, and Kate Soifer, students at Pelham Memorial High School, with signs they carried in a march Sunday in support of free expression and civil rights.(Photo: Ernie Garcia/The Journal News)Buy Photo

PELHAM - A few hundred Pelham Memorial High School students, theirfamilies and friends marched through the town Sunday in support of free expression andtolerance.

The March for Americawas organized by the school's Social and Political Activism Club and thegoal was to celebrate rights and values club members believe are under threat by the administration of President Donald Trump. Many of thestudents who participated in the march carried signs expressing different messages.

Tess Darrow, 15, a 10th grader, carried a sign with a flag thatsaid "Thank you."

"This is the thin blue line flag, which represents police and local law enforcement.... So I'm just kind of thanking them for all they do because I feel like they don't get enough recognition in media for all the work that they do," said Darrow. "This is a walk for everybody, not only liberals, necessarily."

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Kate Soifer, 16, an 11th grader, carried a sign that said "Respect existence or expect resistance," which she borrowed from the Black Lives Matter movement.

"I just look at it as a general sign for everybody," said Soifer. "I'm here for women's rights, for immigrants, for LGBTQ. I'm just here for everyone because everybody deserves equal rights."

Soifer said that politics and current national events are often discussed at her school, especially by one of her teachers.

"He always wants to make sure that everybody understands what's going on," she said. "We don't have to be politically active, but at least we know what's going on in the world today because I think that's a really important thing. Ignorance isn't something that should be taken lightly."

After the march, attendees gathered at a park next to the Daronco Town House, where Pelham Mayor Michael J. Volpe reminded attendees that free expressionincludes all viewpoints.

Participants in a march Sunday organized by students at Pelham Memorial High School.(Photo: Ernie Garcia/The Journal News)

"Of course we ask and hope that everyone will express themselves, their thoughts and opinions in a peaceful and respectful manner, listening to alternative viewpoints and being mindful that the way to positively effect change is with respectful dialogue and compromise," said Volpe.

State Sen. Jeff Klein, D-Bronx,urged a tolerance for immigrants. Kleinspoke of his immigrant Hungarian grandparents and compared their journey with today's immigrants.

"When we hear those that say somehow the immigrants of yesteryear are different than the immigrants today, we tell them absolutely not, they're all the same," Klein said.

Twitter: @ErnieJourno

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