Teens speak out for families, future: Hispanic teens say they must speak up for illegal immigrants.

Byline: Holly K. Hacker and Toya Lynn Stewart

Apr. 2--For Gianna Giodano it was personal.

After thousands of students walked out of North Texas high schools Monday to protest federal immigration proposals, she had to speak up.

"People like us are affected by the decisions that are made," said Gianna, 17, a senior at Sam Houston High School in Arlington. "This is our future and our families."

The protests last week by Hispanic middle and high school students awakened a generation that had never been politically active in such large numbers, and it caught many adults off guard.

But many of the students say their emotions, fueled by concern for family and friends who are illegal immigrants, had been building.

Some activists even ask why it took so long.

Jose Angel Gutierrez, a political scientist who led Chicano protests in the late 1960s, said he and others "have been trying to get this kind of reaction for the last 20 years."

The walkouts from schools in the Dallas area, Houston and other cities around the country seemed to happen spontaneously over three or four days, with plans spreading by cellphone, the Internet and Spanish-language radio.

But the fear that proposed changes to federal…