"We're sick of it": Student walkout

protests gun violence

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff on 03.16.18
Word Count 865
Level 1060L

Students sit in silence as they rally in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2018. Student walked out of
school to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged in response to last
month's shooting at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Photo by: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Tens of thousands of young people across the United States walked out of school
on Wednesday, March 14 to demand action on gun violence. Their message is that
their futures are being stolen from them. The walkout is one of the biggest
student protests since the Vietnam era in the 1960s and 1970s.

In New England, students braved the snow. In places like Georgia and Ohio, they
were threatened with detention and other punishments. Still, the students carried
signs and chanted slogans against the National Rifle Association (NRA). They
bowed their heads in tribute to the 17 who died in the February 14 shooting at
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Students Won't Stop Fighting For Changes

"We're sick of it," said Maxwell Nardi, a senior at Douglas S. Freeman High
School in Virginia. He said the students won't stop fighting until lawmakers finally
make serious changes.

Students across the country were urged to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17
minutes, one minute for each of the dead in Florida. At some schools, students
didn't walk outside but lined the hallways or gathered in gyms. They wore orange,
the color used by the movement against gun violence, or maroon, the school color
at Stoneman Douglas.

"I don't want my mother or my father having to worry about me going to school
getting an education and then my life is gone," said Leticia Carroll. She is a 15-
year-old freshman who helped organize a walkout of more than 100 students at
Groves High School in Michigan.

"We need answers. We need something done," she added.

Lobbying Lawmakers, Leading Rallies

In joining the protests, the students followed the example set by many of the
survivors of the Florida shooting. The survivors have become activists on gun
control — leading rallies, lobbying lawmakers and giving TV interviews. Their
efforts helped pass a new Florida law limiting access to assault rifles by young
people.

In Washington, D.C., more than 2,000 high-school age protesters observed the 17
minutes of silence by sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White
House as a church bell rang. President Donald Trump was in Los Angeles at the
time.

The protesters carried signs with messages like "Our Blood/Your Hands" and
"Never Again" and chanted slogans against the NRA.

Stoneman Douglas High senior David Hogg livestreamed the walkout on his
YouTube channel. Walking in a group of people making their way onto the football
field, he criticized politicians for not taking more action to protect students.

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Much Work Needed To Prevent Gun Violence

He said the students could not be expected to remain in class when there was
work to do to prevent gun violence.

"Every one of these individuals could have died that day. I could have died that
day," he said.

At other schools, students created symbols to try to represent the shooting. At

Cooper City High, near Parkland, students gathered around 14 empty desks and
three podiums arranged in a circle outside the school. They represented the 14
students and three school staff members killed in the shooting. The students then
released 17 doves from a box.

Some Schools Applaud Students, Others Threaten Them

Some schools applauded students for taking a stand or at least tolerated the
walkouts. Others threatened that students would get in trouble.

About 10 students left Ohio's West Liberty-Salem High School, which witnessed a
shooting last year. They were warned that they could face detention or more
serious trouble.

The coordinated walkouts were organized by Empower. Empower is the youth

group of the Women's March, which brought thousands of people to Washington,
D.C., last year. It offered the students a list of demands for lawmakers, including a
ban on assault weapons and required background checks for all gun sales.

Resistance From White House

The organizers are hoping to keep up the pressure for stricter gun laws. Even so,
new gun laws have faced resistance from the White House and lawmakers.

Trump initially said he favored increasing the minimum age for buying assault
weapons to 21. Then he left that out of a proposal that calls for a panel study on
school safety.

Historians said the demonstrations were shaping up to be one of the largest youth
protests in decades.

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Biggest Youth Protest Movement In Decades

David Farber is a history professor at the University of Kansas who has studied
social change movements. "It seems like it's going to be the biggest youth-
oriented and youth-organized protest movements going back decades, to the early
'70s at least," he said.

He said that social media has made it easier to organize young people than it was
in the past.

The walkouts drew support from companies, including media group Viacom. The
company paused programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17
minutes during the walkouts.

More Protests In Coming Weeks

Other protests planned in coming weeks include the March for Our Lives rally for
school safety. Organizers say it is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to the
nation's capital on March 24. Another round of school walkouts is planned for
April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High shooting in Colorado.

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