Prof. Walton arrested during pro-DACA rally in Harvard Square

September 8, 2017
Prof. Jonathan L. Walton arrested during protest
Prof. Jonathan L. Walton was arrested, along with 30 other local educators, during a pro-DACA protest on Sept. 7, 2017 in Harvard Square. Photo: Jeffrey Blackwell

Prof. Jonathan L. Walton, along with 30 other protesters, was arrested by Cambridge police during a pro-DACA rally on Thursday evening after blocking traffic on Massachusetts Avenue in Harvard Square. The planned act of civil disobedience by local area educators was intended to protest the recent decision by President Trump to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

Prof. Walton's statement on the protest

“No human being is illegal. History teaches us that whenever governments or laws render some in violation of law based on the accident of birth, mass suffering ensues. From the Hebrews in Egypt to the Jim Crow American South to apartheid in South Africa, it took people of good will to stand for those denied a voice. As the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister of the Harvard Memorial Church, I am proud to join arms with faculty colleagues from across the greater Boston area in the act of civil disobedience. If the President and Attorney General want to begin rounding up ‘illegals,’ they should start with us.” 

View more coverage of the protest: The Boston Globe, WBUR, The Harvard Crimson, and CBS Boston / WBZ.

Prof. Jonathan L. Walton along with other local educators blocks traffic during protest
Harvard faculty, including Prof. Jonathan L. Walton, and other local educators block traffic on Massachusetts Avenue during pro-DACA protest in Harvard Square. Photo: Jeffrey Blackwell

 

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