Jamie Newton had his delegation in tow midmorning Wednesday, but he was not heading to the Democratic National Convention and his people are not political types, yet.
Newton, a teacher at The Logan School for Creative Learning in Denver, led 43 students to the 16th Street Mall for a civics lesson; a chance for them to observe the street-level politics that have marked the pedestrian thoroughfare during the convention.
The sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders were engrossed as they walked the mall, chattering with each other while they passed the convention-goers, protesters and journalists.
One of the students, a girl, mentioned the protesters are not balancing their views with those of others. They briefly stopped in front of protesters’ signs targeting the war and immigration raids.
“They’ve been talking about it all week. It’s democracy in action,” Newton said.
The students, who he said are watching the convention at night, are in the second week of the school year, and Newton said he wanted them to observe the goings-on of convention week.
They pay attention to the news and are interested in the Iraqi war, terrorism, health care and immigration, he said.
The group made it to the Union Station end of the mall, close to the spot MSNBC is broadcasting from. Newton said he planned to take the students to watch peace demonstrators later in the day.
“It’s part of a democracy — First Amendment rights,” he said about the demonstrators.
