MARCH FOR OUR LIVES
Rally draws nearly 8,000 attendees to Walkway Over the Hudson event
Brayden Surprise asked his mother to bring him to the March For Our Lives event on the Walkway Over the Hudson because, he said, he’s scared.
“I feel scared we have to go through this,” the 12-year-old seventh-grader said. “I feel scared that we have to have lock down drills.”
Brayden and his mother, Melissa, of Highland, were among the nearly 8,000 people who marched across the Walkway on Saturday to protest gun violence and show solidarity with marchers across the country and the victims and survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
Marchers came from across the region — and from as far away as Milford Connecticut, roughly 20 miles from where 26 children and adults were gunned down in the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
“I was in middle school when Sandy Hook happened and nothing has been changed,” said Isabel Sanmillian, a senior at Red Hook High School.
“We’re living in constant fear and it’s unacceptable,” she said.
“I feel scared we have to go through this. I feel scared that we have to have lock down drills.” — Brayden Surprise, seventhgrader
Emily Rosankranse, 14, of Stone Ridge, attended the march with friends Asher Rosen, 12, Baila Kz, 14, and Dahlia Rosen, 14.
Asked why she was there, she said, simply: “There’s no where else you can be.”
Marchers carried signs reading “Common Sense Gun Laws,” “#enough,” “Arms should be for hugging,” and “Thoughts and Prayers Do Not Stop Bullets,” and chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the NRA has got to go,” “We stand with Parkland,” and “We are voters,” as they marched across the one-and one-half mile span.
Eric Hoppe, Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park manager, said 7,819 people participated, based on a hand count by the parks agency..
“For us, to have a large event like this and to have people come out ... it’s great,” he said.
Kaushik Mukherjee carried a sign that read “I march for her,” with an arrow that pointed down to his daughter Amaya, 3, who held the hand of her mother Kristina.
“We think this is something that is affecting everyone in the U.S., Mukherjee, of Hyde Park, said of gun violence. “We think its important for everyone to let their voices be heard. We thought it was important a long time ago and the time has come for a change.”
Cathy Castellano traveled from Andes, in Delaware County for the March. Carrying a sign that said “Thoughts and Prayers Do Not Stop Bullets,” Castellano said she was marching for her two granddaughters “so when they go to school they will not have to be afraid.”
Many of the students marching said they are, or will be turning 18 in time to vote in the November election and wanted to send a message to incumbent lawmakers and those looking to run for office.
“We want change to occur and we want it to happen now,” said Tyler Brooks, 17, of Spackenkill. “I’m voting in November and I want my voice to be heard in the political stratosphere.”
New Paltz resident Shelly Ottens agreed.
“I want my voice to be heard,” she said. “I think the only way anything will change is voting. People have to get out and vote.”
Throughout the march, voter registration forms were handed out.
The event on the Walkway Over the Hudson was one of more than 800 events held across the country, including a march in Washington D.C. which was expected to attract hundreds of thousands of attendees.
The march was organized in the wake of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland Fla., where 17 people were killed by Nikolas Cruz, a former student at the school.
Cruz, 19, has been charged with 17 counts of premediated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.