Young people in the U.S. walked out of school to demand action on gun violence Wednesday in what activists hoped would be the biggest demonstration of student activism yet in response to last month’s massacre in Florida.
More than 3,000 walkouts were planned across the U.S. and around the world, organizers said. Students were urged to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17 minutes — one minute for each victim in the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Thousands of students gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, holding colorful signs and cheering in support of gun control. The students chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho. The NRA has got to go!” and “What do we want? Gun control! When do we want it? Now!”
President Donald Trump was traveling in Los Angeles at the time. Stoneman Douglas High senior David Hogg livestreamed the walkout at the tragedy-stricken school in Parkland, Florida, on his YouTube channel. Walking amid a mass of people making their way onto the football field, he criticized politicians for not taking more action to protect students.
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.
From Florida to New York, students poured out of their schools, marching through the streets or gathering on campus to demonstrate. Some schools applauded students for taking a stand or at least tolerated the walkouts, while others threatened discipline.
The coordinated walkout was organized by Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, which brought thousands to Washington last year. Although the group wanted students to shape protests on their own, it also offered them a list of demands for lawmakers, including a ban on assault weapons and mandatory background checks for all gun sales.
“Our elected officials must do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to this violence,” the organization said on its website. Other protests planned in coming weeks include the March for Our Lives rally for school safety, which organizers say 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.
Some students in Massachusetts said that after Wednesday’s protest, they planned to rally outside the Springfield headquarters of the gun maker Smith & Wesson. The walkouts drew support from companies including media conglomerate Viacom, which planned to pause programming on MTV, BET and all its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts.
Districts in Sayreville, New Jersey, and Maryland’s Harford County drew criticism this week when they said students could face punishment for leaving class. In suburban Atlanta, one of Georgia’s largest school systems announced that students who participated might face unspecified consequences. Some vowed to walk out anyway.
“Change never happens without backlash,” said Kara Litwin, a senior at Pope High School in Cobb County. The possibility of being suspended “is overwhelming, and I understand that it’s scary for a lot of students,” said Lian Kleinman, a junior at Pope High. “For me personally, this is something I believe in. This is something I will go to the ends of the Earth for.”
Other schools sought a middle ground, offering “teach-ins” or group discussions on gun violence. Meanwhile, free speech advocates geared up for a battle. The American Civil Liberties Union issued advice for students who walk out, saying schools can’t legally punish them more harshly because of the political nature of their message. In Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas, some lawyers said they would provide free legal help to students who are punished.
its their right to protest, 1st amendment
but , its not their right to infringe on my 2nd article right because of the alleged actions of another .
BFD! These fools are being played as useful idiots. Sorry, NOT! As if I am supposed to take guidance from a gaggle of idiots, who think eating laundry pods is a great idea, and can not tell me in which half century the Civil War was fought or know how to read a road map.
Hey, hey, ho, ho get your ass back in school. Come back when you can read, write and do math at your grade level, snowflake.
Hey kids, the world does not owe you a thing. It was here first.
this is being arranged by adults. they are getting buses for them and coordinating it. this is not a ‘student’ inspired action.
Adults who are communists.
.
It’s not really a “walkout” when the school funds it. And kids will do anything to get the hell out of classes for a day.
They can’t even write their name but have time to run up an down the street
Demand your property taxes back for the days these idiots are not in school!
Walkout, eh? If only they could keep on walking, all the way out of our lives. FOREVER!
I feel infringed. Irritated.
.
Would be funny if someone started shooting outside of the school and they exposed themselves to it instead of from behind the safety of the walls.
Or a naked old man ran by with his saggy but and junk drooping in the breeze.