The New Threat Against Students

Madison Weikle, staff writer

Cold winds bit through the heaviest of jackets as students, teachers, and citizens gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C. Saturday, March 24, 2018, to promote stricter gun control. The March For Our Lives was organized by students advocating for gun control after a school shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14.

PVCC student Rachel Richardson attended the march. She said, “It is a problem that impacts all students–including me. If going meant I could help make a difference, even just by being a body, I would be there.” Richardson was not the only one who felt this way. Time magazine estimated around 800,000 people in attendance, making it the largest single-day protest in D.C., according to USA Today.

The rally began a few minutes after noon and lasted about three hours. During this time, many speakers spoke, popular singers shared their voices through song, and statistical videos played. Singer Andra Day kicked off the event with her hit single “Rise Up.” Parkland survivor Cameron Kasky followed Day’s performance. Kasky took the stage by welcoming us to the revolution. Speaker after speaker delivered their powerful words to the enraptured audience. Every speaker was a survivor of gun violence, and no one who spoke was over the age of 18.

The last speaker, Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez, stood on stage and spoke for a minute and fifty seconds before falling silent. Her silence stunned the audience. The crowd tried desperately to encourage her to speak again by chanting “Never again” and “We love you Emma.”  But she held strong, staring forward as tears streamed from her eyes. Suddenly, beeps from a stop watch broke the silence, and Gonzalez explained, “Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds; the shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest. Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

Although Gonzalez stood silent on stage, her presence itself was not silent at all. Richardson said, “The fact that it is these teenagers, these ones who take a stand and risk their lives to fight for a cause, when so many have remained silent for so long, is why I believe in these students. They are the first to refuse to be silent.”