Student power
Rally in city park vs. guns on Columbine ann’y
THOUSANDS OF city students converged on Manhattan’s Washington Square Park on Friday as part of a nationwide school walkout protest against gun violence.
The youth-led demonstrations, held in cities across the US were tied to the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, where 15 people died.
It was the second mass school walkout since the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where 17 were killed.
Idealistic students from schools throughout the city joined the protest — organized by the local student activist group NYC Says Enough — bearing signs and chanting slogans.
Horace Mann High School freshman Sonja Cooper said young people have a message to deliver.
“As a young person a lot of times I feel really helpless and powerless to make change in the world,” said Cooper, 15.
“When I heard about Parkland and all the shootings, I felt really horrible and really out of control,” she added. “I wanted to do something to show how I felt and try to make a difference.”
Many students wore orange and some wrote anti-gun slogans on their faces or other parts of their bodies with markers.
Columbine graduate Amalia Fernand addressed the crowd, recalling the horror and offering reason for hope.
“I can clearly remember the desperate look at my AP English teacher’s face as she waved her arms at me and told me to run,” Fernand said of the 1999 shooting.
“For my entire adult life I have felt hopeless that our government will ever do anything about the school shooting epidemic in this country,” Fernand added. “And now I actually feel like change is coming. I am so incredibly proud of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students.”
Marjory Stoneman Douglas survivors Alayaah Eastmond and Isabelle Robinson also spoke, along with U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler. Students nationwide participated in walkouts loosely organized by Ridgefield, Conn., high school sophomore Lane Murdock and three of her classmates.
The protests, in cities from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles were smaller than the massive March 14 walkouts in reaction to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shootings.
On that day, roughly 100,000 city students walked out of class with the support of Mayor de Blasio.
But this time, city schools may punish students who participate.
NYC Says Enough organizer Drew Myers said about 5,000 students from 40 public and private high schools participated in the protest that kicked off at noon in Washington Square Park.
City Education Department officials wouldn't say how many kids skipped class for the event.
Students, including Brooklyn Tech senior Mohamed Ibrahim, 17, vowed to leave despite the possible repercussions .
Ibrahim said he’d even heard some teachers won’t be marking students down for the walkout.
“They actually respect the fact that we’re doing it,” he said.