Political strength on the streets
Hundreds of thousands push for action against gun violence
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in America’s capital and cities across the US to demand action against gun violence, vividly displaying the strength of the political movement led by survivors of a school massacre in Parkland, Florida.
Organised by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a gunman killed 17 last month, the March for Our Lives showcased impassioned teens calling on Congress to enact stricter gun-control laws to end the nation’s two-decade stretch of campus shootings.
Hundreds of “sibling protests” took place, from New York — where demonstrators spread across 20 blocks — to Jonesboro, Arkansas, a small city marking the 20th anniversary of a middle-school shooting that left four students and a teacher dead. Gun-rights advocates mounted counterprotests in Salt Lake City, Boise and Valparaiso, Indiana, where one sign read “All Amendments Matter.”
Protesters from Los Angeles to London also marched, held signs and chanted . More than 800 events were scheduled worldwide, according to the gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
In Boston, throngs of people jammed Boston Common. People gathered outside city hall in Las Vegas, where a gunman killed 58 people at a country music festival last year.
Although the District of Columbia march was funded by Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney, and other celebrities, Stoneman Douglas High students have been its faces. Their unequivocal message to legislators: Ignoring the toll of school shootings and everyday gun violence will no longer be tolerated.
“To the leaders, sceptics and cynics who told us to sit down, stay silent and wait your turn: Welcome to the revolution,” Cameron Kasky, a Stoneman Douglas student, said to a crowd that packed at least 10 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue.
“Either represent the people or get out. Stand for us or beware. The voters are coming.”
The main march in Washington was a heady mix of political activism, famous entertainers and the undisguised emotion of teenagers confronting the loss of friends and loved ones in a national spotlight. Sam Fuentes, a senior shot in the leg at Stoneman Douglas, threw up on stage while delivering her speech. She recovered and led the crowd in a rendition of Happy Birthday for her slain classmate, Nicholas Dworet, who would have turned 18 yesterday.
The march emphasised not just the highly publicised mass shootings in suburban, white schools, but also the far more common shootings that leave one or two young people dead and often affect predominantly black and Hispanic students in poor neighbourhoods. Zion Kelly, of Thurgood Marshall Academy in Washington, spoke
about his twin brother, Zaire, who was shot and killed by a robber in September. “I’m here to represent the hundreds of thousands of students who live every day in constant paranoia and fear on their way to and from school.”
The march drew a huge crowd, though there were no police estimates of its size. One indication: Metro officials reported there had been about 334,000 trips on the system by 4pm, compared to 368,000 trips by the same time on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The Women’s March last year generated 597,000 trips by the same time of day.
The Parkland students have already had an impact on the gun debate. Lawmakers in Florida passed its first significant gun-control legislation in 20 years this month in response to pressure from the Stoneman Douglas survivors.
They will stage another nationwide student walkout on April 20, the anniversary of Columbine, said David Hogg, one of the movement’s leaders. And they are planning future marches on every state capitol. It remains unclear whether they can shame Congress into passing new restrictions on guns.
In Parkland, a large group gathered at Pine Trail Park to tell their stories and demand change.