On Saturday, young people and their allies will participate in hundreds of demonstrations in support of gun-reform sanity as part of the March for Our Lives. Click here to find one in your locale.
The march was inspired by the activism of students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 14 students and three staff and teachers were gunned down on Valentine’s Day. Among them are senior Emma González, and junior Cameron Kasky. They and others have been working for the past five weeks to generate support for an action designed to pressure elected leaders on the federal and state levels to transform the massacre into legislation that reduces gun-related violence and all the horror and pain that comes with it.
“Not one more,” the march’s Mission Statement reads. “We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives.”
Starting at noon, Washington, D.C., will be the location of the main march, on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd Street and 12th street NW. Sister marches are planned for Boise, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and hundreds of other cities around the world. Nine marches are slated for the San Francisco Bay Area. Currently, there are a whopping 831 March for Our Lives events planned.
A deluge of celebrities have announced their support for the march, and several like George and Amal Clooney, Steven Spielberg, Kate Capshaw, Oprah Winfrey and studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg have each pledged $500,000 for the action.
In addition to mostly liberal celebrities, some businesses have weighed in as well. Lyft is offering Stoneman students free rides to the march. The dating app Bumble banned images of guns from its platform and donated $100,000 to March for Our Lives.
This isn’t meant to be a feel-good one-off. Besides the mission statement, the organizers write:
School safety is not a political issue. There cannot be two sides to doing everything in our power to ensure the lives and futures of children who are at risk of dying when they should be learning, playing, and growing. The mission and focus of March For Our Lives is to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.
At some of Saturday’s marches, participants will register voters in order to turn today’s outrage into concrete victories for gun reform-minded candidates in November’s midterm elections.
If you can’t make it to the march, there are still ways you can participate. Stoneman Douglas students put together a GoFundMe page for the event. Some of the money raised is going to sister marches and anything above the $2 million goal will go to victims’ funds.
You can also sign the organizers’ petition, calling on Congress to pass legislation to address gun violence. Read it here.
Whether you are 15 or 85, if you can, march with the students and be sure to follow up by telling lawmakers #NeverAgain.
If you live in the deep red of America, you may have given up as hopeless making calls or otherwise contacting your local Republican congressperson, senator, or state legislator to vote a certain way or support a certain program. Make an exception this time. A few of these elected representatives may change their minds.