Originally published for Xpress Magazine. Photos by Janett Perez.
Across the country, millions of students are speaking up, walking out, and marching for their lives. The current movement for gun control is different than those of the past: it is catalyzed by the youth.
On Saturday, March 24th Hannah Strotman stood strong against the bustling wind, sporting a sticker that stated “#ENOUGHISENOUGH.” Today is personal for her, as it is for the thousands who march beside her.
“I went to UCSB and there was a shooting there in 2014,” Hannah shares while trying to hold back tears. “I wasn’t in town, but I had a good friend die and that just opened my eyes to how much more should be done.”
There have been seventeen school shootings resulting in injury or death in 2018 so far, according to Everytown. It’s only the twelfth week of the year.
The March for Our Lives was held in Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco, but also in hundreds of other cities across the country. Yet unlike all the other political rallies and marches of the past, this one was organized by the youth. That for one makes this movement so powerful, says teachers, Ted Foreman and John Eby as they wait for the rally to start.
“The youth had finally woke up and I am here to support that,” states Ted who teaches elementary school in the Bay Area. “These kids should be able to exist in a world where they don’t have that threat looming over them.”
“I’m just astounded by the fact that I would get tongue tied up on that stage,” adds John, who retired from teaching middle school after twenty-one years. “And these kids go up there and they’re articulate, they’re at ease, and they’re not afraid of anybody. I think it’s fabulous.”
Ever since the February 14 shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that resulted in seventeen deaths, students across the country have said enough is enough, organizing student walkouts, rallies, and marches. Including San Francisco State University student, Ibraheem Chaudry, who spoke at the rally.
“After the Stoneman Douglas shooting, I jumped on board the movement started by the amazing students at MSD and started a chapter at my school,” Ibraheem speaks into the crowd of thousands of people with passion. “I stand here today to vocalize my feelings about a debate, that on one side has students, parents, victims, who are demanding a sense of security, and on the other side has people who, very easily, have chosen a human-killing machine over the future of America.”
Ibraheem ends his speech by shouting “enough is enough” into the crowd, a phrase that had been vocalized by many members of the movement. This generation of students are the ones who are post-traumatically affected by this issue, so instead of waiting around for the government to take action, they took action into their own hands.
“Kids should not be afraid to go to the movies or to concerts with their friends,” declares Maya Segal, a ninth grade student, at the rally. “They shouldn’t be afraid to walk down their own streets, and they shouldn’t be afraid of being shot in their schools. Kids should not be afraid to be kids. The only way to end this is for lawmakers to pass common-sense gun control.”