‘Enough is enough’ Memphis students, families march against gun violence
SUNDAY, MARCH 25, 2018
As Vivian Bowman’s little arms rose high in the air, her fists clutching her sign, the 5-year-old’s pigtail braids framed the word on the back of her orange Tshirt: “Enough.”
On her sign, in shaky kindergarten handwriting, she’d also written in orange. “I feel unsafe in my school,” it read. On a spring break trip to Memphis with her family, Vivian joined about 1,500 people in Downtown on Saturday morning calling for an end to gun violence, stricter gun control and safer schools.
The Memphis March For Our Lives, organized by students mostly through Bridges, USA and in coordination with hundreds such marches across the country, departed from Clayborn Temple and ended at the Civil Rights Museum. The event came in the wake of the Parkland, Florida high school shooting that killed 17 people on Valentine’s Day.
Teenagers led the way from the front of the march, carrying signs and banners and yelling “enough is enough.”
“This is just the first step in moving a group of people that are tired of being tired,” Central High School senior Hali Smith, one of the event organizers, said. “We’re tired of putting up teddy bears and balloons for dead children.”
The group of students has also planned school walkouts on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School. Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dorsey Hopson endorsed the idea and will meet with students on Wednesday to develop their plan for the day.
Saturday’s Memphis march culminated in speeches from students—all of whom have been touched by gun violence—in front of the museum.
Stephen Akins, a 16-year-old sophomore at Kingsbury High School, spoke about the loss of his friend, Audrea Reed, a 17-year-old girl who was shot and killed near the school last month.
“It’s not something you ever expect happens to you,” Stephen told the crowd.
The two were in band together, and her death didn’t feel real until he went to her funeral.
After he shared, Stephen sat on a rock alone, looking down at the ground, but erupting in a smile every time someone patted him on the shoulder and said “good job.”
“I told my story,” Stephen said. “To actually communicate how I felt, it was like a relief.”
Fellow Kingsbury student Yeny Perez, a junior, also spoke about Audrea.
“I still remember the way she laughed,” Yeny said of her friend.
Yeny said she hears gunshots in her neighborhood frequently, and always prays for whomever may be at the other end of the barrel.
“The laws have become bystanders to the deaths of innocent people,” she said.
Bryan Payne, a 17-year-old student at St. George’s Independent School, lost his brother, Cameron Selmon to gun violence on the campus of Tennessee State University in 2015.
“We fight against gun violence every day so others won’t have to go through what we went through,” Bryan said.
Aaron Ford, a 13-year-old White Station Middle student and bis brother David Ford, 16, of White Station High, came to the march with their mother.
They were shocked at the turnout, expecting it to be mostly other kids from the Bridges, USA Bridgebuilder program. Aaron said he wants to see people stop turning to violence and guns to settle their differences.
“People think that it solves problems, but it doesn’t,” he said.
White Station High freshman Meredith Cline marched with her mother and her brother and carried a sign that read, “I’m pretty dope but I’m not bullet proof.”
“It’s a pretty simple concept,” the 14-year-old said. “There shouldn’t be guns in schools.”
She wasn’t at all surprised to see a large crowd for the event.
“I think it’s a pretty big issue that a lot of people want to fix,” Meredith said.
The event included voter registration and the route was lined with counselors. As the last of the crowd turned onto South Main Street, people covered the pavement of several city blocks.
Mary Kelsey Cox, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at St. Francis of Asisi school, said she wanted people to have to be older to buy a gun.
“Because I don’t want people to feel scared in school, and I don’t want people to be able to get guns easily,” she said.
Alicia Williams, a 16-year-old Trezevant High School student, said she and her classmates have seen their share of violence, both in and out of school. Gun violence, for them, is nothing new.
Alicia herself has been learning from her school’s principal, Corey Kelly, how to work through her problems and not turn to violence. She hopes more schools have adults who offer support like that.
“I told him what’s going on instead of fighting myself,” she said. “There’s always a way to handle things without fighting.”
Ja’lin Watts, a 17-year-old Soulsville Charter student, came to the event with the group Girls, Inc. and said she was impressed with the number of teens and younger children who marched. “It shows that teenagers do have a voice,” she said. Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.