Long Beach, CA: Students Walkout of High School After Teacher Placed on Leave for Reporting Assault

Anarchists in Long Beach, California report on a recent student organized walk out in solidarity with a teacher who has been placed on leave after coming forward that one of their co-workers assaulted them.

It was brought to our attention that Myriam Gurba – activist and educator at Lb Poly famous for her poignant literary critique of the racist book American Dirt – has been put on leave by the Long Beach Unified School Department for reporting sexual assault. Gurba pointed out that fellow educator Jeff Jacobs heinously abused and assaulted her and continues to engage in predatory behavior towards his students. Jacobs is still employed and free to continue to abuse students at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach.

LBUSD continues to protect abusers and punish those, like Gurba, who are brave enough to speak out against injustice. We stand in solidarity with students, Myriam Gurba, and all victims of abuse against the institutional order that protects abusers and patriarchal white supremacy. With no help from the state, it was yet again the collective people’s responsibility to take matters into our own hands and protect our community.

On Friday afternoon, protests for Poly teacher Myriam Gurba continued. Students also showed rebuke against "rapists and racists" in LBUSD schools.
?: Luis C. Sanchez#longbeach #education pic.twitter.com/iXEYMhQGj1

— VoiceWaves (@LBVoiceWaves) February 29, 2020

On Friday February 28th we stood alongside students and community members in solidarity with Myriam Gurba against the LBUSD and anyone else who protects abusers. This injustice is symptomatic of a larger rot in the system. Students know it. We all know it.

Activists and concerned community members arrived as scheduled at 2:30PM right outside the front gates of Long Beach Poly. With signs in hand, everyone gathered shoulder to shoulder and began chanting with support from passing motorists and their car horns. As the final school bell rang at 2:40 the huge iron gates opened and students joined the line, contributing to the noise of rage and discontent. We all faced the street together and let LBUSD know that an assault on one of us is an assault on all of us.

We need to continue to send a message of youth solidarity. The school police officers that sat in their cars attempting to intimidate and observe student activists is a reminder that no student is safe from the school to prison pipeline or abusive teachers like Jeff Jacobs. We need to support student organizations and support youth struggle for autonomy and safety. As for now, Long Beach has your back Gurba. Thank you to everyone that showed up and contributed, this is just the beginning.