We marched to make our voices heard: Enough is enough
We are teens, but we are old enough to make a change. That was the focus of Saturday’s March for Our Lives events. Children — not just teenagers — descended on Washington, D.C., and other cities around the nation to make their voices heard and to say that when it comes to gun violence in schools, enough is enough.
I was one of many thousands who marched in D.C. last week. I saw too many terrified, crying people there. Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers — not all of them survivors, but all of them victims — were unified in fear and in desire and cause. They were there for change, and we, the lockdown generation, are going to scream for it until it arrives.
We have become the new generation of change. We have been failed by the generations before us, and it is our duty to change our country for generations ahead. Change is no longer a question of if among the young people of this nation, but a question of when.
It is not enough to say, “You are in our thoughts and prayers,” in response to gun violence, and it never was. If teens really are impatient, then this movement proves that that impatience is by no means a constant detriment. Without impatience, without desire, we would remain placid in a world too often plagued by lead bullets.
Beyond the marches, it is clear that this is not a fad. We may be children, but that does not mean we abandon all that we start. The marches indicated to me that we will not abandon this, and we will not allow for the execution of any classmates, of any children, any longer. We cannot go gently into the dark night, for doing so would be an acceptance of defeat and an abdication of our lives.
We are not alone in this cause. Standing with each vocal child is a family, and we have not been dropped on the doorstep of this movement. Children are not the only ones clamoring for change, but we are the loudest now.
Our weapons in this movement are the voices and the votes of its supporters. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” In between chants of “Vote them out!” — a reference to politicians who have been financially supported by the National Rifle Association — this ideology of peace is being emphasized everywhere.
Our momentum and identity as a movement is founded in our peace, our voice and our cause.
That cause is this: We want to live through school.