Shorewood, WI – After enormous pressure from the community, bogus charges against a Black high school student accused of stealing chicken nuggets were finally dropped. Hundreds of people rallied in support of freshman Adam Hernandez outside the Shorewood Village Hall July 20.

The $2.60 chicken nuggets ignited a controversy when school administrators called police to arrest Hernandez for stealing from the school cafeteria. Hernandez was given the nuggets by a friend who did not want them.

The charges against Hernandez were finally dropped just before several hundred community members were expected to rally in his support. “They wanted to send me to jail, but instead I’m gonna send them an invitation to my college graduation!” said Adam Hernandez to hundreds of supporters.

“We asked them to drop the charges and they said no! But the power of the people made them say yes!” said organizer Ava Hernandez before hundreds of supporters at the victory rally.

Organizers credited the outpouring of community support for holding police accountable for the racist arrest, but said the struggle is still far from over for oppressed nationality students. Ava Hernandez said, “We want a permanent antiracist training program,” and, “We want the police out of the schools, they have no purpose there!”

“We are here today to demand an end to the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Anahí Sánchez of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán (MEChA). Members of Waukesha Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a banner calling for, “Schools not prison.”

“This group will grow bigger and bigger, until we have the city that we want to live in!” said David Bowen, program director of Urban Underground. On the heels of a big victory, activists promised to fight back against the racist attacks in and out of schools.

#ShorewoodWI #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #AfricanAmerican #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #MECHA

Hernandez, who has no prior criminal record or school disciplinary history, was targeted because he is Black in a predominantly white suburb of Milwaukee. Black students make up only 13% of the Shorewood school district and are five times more likely to be suspended than white students.

“The school system and the police department think Adam is expendable and they’re using him to send a message to students of color: ‘Know your place,’” said Hernandez’s sister, Ava Hernandez, in an interview with Fight Back!. She said that she was surprised when it happened, but in a sad way, she wasn’t surprised.

Authorities refused to drop Hernandez’s case even after being presented with a signed affidavit from the student who gave the chicken nuggets to Adam. “I knew it was time to mobilize the community,” Ms. Hernadez said. “I hope the school system and the police will see this and think twice next time.”

Adam Hernandez’s trial begins at 5:30 July 20 at the Shorewood Village Hall, 3930 N. Murray Avenue, in Shorewood, Wisconsin. Supporters will rally there at 4:30.

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