Seniors at Horace Greeley High School are petitioning their school administrators to have the 2016 prom moved away from the Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff.
“We believe that public money should not go to an organization which promotes racism, sexism, and other forms of disrespect towards various groups,” the petition reads.
The petition, started by student Julian Robles, has collected 144 supporters in the few days it’s been live on Change.org. The petition cites Trump’s inflammatory comments about Mexican immigrants, misogynistic Twitter posts, and disrespectful comments about John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war as reason enough to move the prom. Multiple students, alumni, and parents have left encouraging comments in support of the movement.
“The whole Trump thing seems to be a backward step for the school and what it and its students represent,” Robles told The Journal News.
While he’s publicly discussed running for office before, this year appears to be the first that Trump is exploring a political career seriously. He’s joined more than a dozen Republican candidates hoping to secure a bid for the 2016 presidential election. Trump in the past considered a run for the 2012 presidency, along with a more serious bid for NY state governor last year, backing out ultimately because the state Republicans continued to support Trump’s competition, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino.
“Donald Trump is self-funding his run for president. It follows that anything Horace Greeley High School does to increase his personal wealth, even minimally, increases the chances of Trump 2016,” wrote Alexis Hoane of Briarcliff.
This isn’t the first instance of Westchester residents pushing back against “The Donald,” either. Earlier this summer, a different petition was posted on Change.org titled “Rename the Donald J. Trump State Park to…anything else.” The petition, which is addressed to the NY State Department of Parks and Governor Andrew Cuomo, calls on lawmakers to disassociate the Yorktown park from the man who once owned it. To date, the petition has received 367 signatures.
While the Trump State Park has been closed since 2010 due to statewide budget cuts, signs in the surrounding area, most prominently on the Taconic State Parkway, still advertise its existence.
“Government facilities should no more carry the Trump name than they should display the confederate flag–neither is consistent with American values,” wrote Tarrytown resident Joyce Lannert.
