One year ago, it was 10 a.m. and hundreds of my fellow high schoolers and I stood outside in the bone-chilling cold. One of my classmates read a list of 17 names. They were the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Shooting one month prior. On that same day, millions of other Americans, from elementary school students to seniors in high school like me, walked out of school at 10 a.m., the same time the gunman opened fire. Some were braver than me. My school’s administration supported the walkout. At other schools, students faced threats of suspension if they left class. They still walked out. At some schools, only one student walked out. A group of fifth graders in Virginia handed out their own press packets to the media in attendance.
I’m not going to lie to you, after the shooting in Parkland I was pretty despondent. I thought that there was no hope of genuine gun control legislation being passed in America. With the power of NRA lobbying, I figured we all may as well lie down and rot. Yes, this was an incredibly toxic and lethargic attitude, but it’s how I really felt at the time. And then, something strange happened. People weren’t giving up. Parkland students were speaking up online, even going as far as to attack politicians that they felt were indirectly responsible for the deaths of their classmates. Eventually, the social media buzz from Parkland students morphed into real life action, and I heard about the national school walkout about a week after the shooting happened. My best friend, one of the smartest, bravest, and kindest women I know, took point on planning the walkout in our school. While I knew I would walk out, I still felt uncertain. In order to keep my nihilistic mindset going, I had to convince myself that this was just a flash in the pan, and all of the gun legislation hype would die out after this. And then, the walkout went off without a hitch, and it was beautiful and inspiring. I suddenly began to understand that people weren’t just going to lie down and rot like me. They were going to fight for what they believed was right.
When my best friend invited me to the first meeting of our county’s Students Demand Action chapter that she had started up, I attended and kept attending. I helped plan events and fundraisers, and we did good work to raise awareness and register people to vote in our county. I never felt better than spending the end of my senior year of high school helping to work on something that really mattered. I’ll never forget how one of the greatest tragedies was able to be turned into a powerful youth movement. I’ll always remember the late nights I spent researching firearms legislation in my state so that I could help to educate my classmates. I may have graduated, but I still want to shout out Students Demand Action Essex; personal friends of mine still run the group, and they do great work. While many on the right believed that our movement was about coming to steal people’s guns and rescind the Second Amendment, I hope whoever is reading this column knows that isn’t the case. At the end of the day, all we wanted was to feel safe. We wanted dangerous loopholes like the Boyfriend Loophole (a loophole that only bars convicted domestic abusers from purchasing firearms if they were married to their victim, which excludes boyfriends and stalkers) closed. We wanted common sense gun legislation, so that we never have to go to class fearing for our lives again. We’re going to keep fighting to make America a safer place, because for some of us, it’s a matter of life and death.
P.S. Credit absolutely must go where credit is due. Student activists in often-ignored cities like Chicago have been fighting for safer gun legislation for years. Never forget the intersectionality of the struggle.
Alyssa Alhadeff, 14
Scott Beigel, 35
Martin Duque, 14
Nicholas Dworet, 17
Aaron Feis, 37
Jaime Guttenberg, 14
Chris Hixon, 49
Luke Hoyer, 15
Cara Loughran, 14
Gina Montalto, 14
Joaquin Oliver, 17
Alaina Petty, 14
Meadow Pollack, 18
Helena Ramsay, 17
Alex Schachter, 14
Carmen Schentrup, 16
Peter Wang, 15
Be First to Comment