» Students across the country protest school shooting,
Students at thousands of schools across the country began walking out of class at 10 a.m. Wednesday to protest gun violence and to mark one month since a mass shooting left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The nationally organized walkouts, most of which were expected to last 17 minutes in symbolic tribute to the Florida victims, are unprecedented in recent American history. Supporters say the protests represent a realization of power and influence by young people raised on social media who have come of age in an era of never-ending wars, highly publicized mass shootings and virulent national politics.
In the Washington region, hundreds of high school students from local districts gathered at the White House carrying signs protesting gun violence and those who oppose gun-control measures. Just before 10 a.m. the crowd fell silent and sat with fists and signs held high. They sat in silence for 17 minutes on Pennsylvania Avenue with their backs to the White House. As the silence was broken at 10:17, the crowd began chanting “We want change!” Later, they plan to march to the Capitol, where they hope to meet with lawmakers.
At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, still recovering from a violent white supremacist rally last summer, about 2,000 students gathered on the Lawn, many wiping away tears as the names of the 17 Florida victims were read aloud. The university’s chapel bells tolled 17 times as students bowed their heads in silence.
At Columbine High School in Colorado, where shooters killed 12 students and one teacher in 1999, students arriving early for school said they planned to take part in a demonstration at 10 a.m. local time.
Myriah Murren, 14, told her mother “I love you” as she was dropped off before sunrise Wednesday at Columbine. The freshman said she planned to walk out of class later in the morning to send a message to students who survived the shooting in Florida that she and her classmates “care for them.”
“A lot of people will join in,” she said, adding that going to a school that was the site of one of the earliest mass school shootings makes her and her classmates more aware of the issue.
At Minnetonka High School southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, students walked out of classes on a cold late-winter morning saying they want politicians to take up their cause, even if they have to show them the way.
“We’re tired of sitting around and listening to politicians tell us what they are going to do without ever actually doing anything. And we’re also just kind of tired of adults not making it happen - adults saying what they are going to do and then just entirely blowing us off,” said Dominic Barry, 16, a junior at the school. “We’re the next generation for all these issues, and we want people to know that we’re not going to sit around and let other people not take action on these issues.”
Walkout organizers say that nearly 3,000 schools have indicated they will take part and that many more are planning events and memorials independently. On the social media pages for the Women’s March Youth Empower, the group helping to coordinate Wednesday’s walkouts, more than 150,000 students have indicated interest in taking part, said organizer Fatima Younis, a student at Frederick Community College in Maryland. The walkout, she said, is a message that political leaders need to hear.
“We want our Congress to know that some of us will be old enough to vote in the midterm elections, and the rest of us are going to be able to vote in 2020 or 2022, and they’re going to lose their job if they don’t do what we want to keep us safe,” Younis said.