School Climate & Safety

A New Generation of Youth Activists Asks a Familiar Question: How Many More Students Must Die?

By Williamena Kwapo — June 11, 2022 | Corrected: June 13, 2022 3 min read
Jecholiah Marriott, 17, a junior at Cass Technical High School, leads the March for Our Lives rally through the streets of downtown Detroit, Mich. on June 11, 2022. The rally was to protest the spike in gun violence, especially in schools across the country.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Corrected: A photo caption has been updated to correct Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s title.

Detroit

Jecholiah Marriott, 17, stood up and tearfully addressed a large crowd of teachers, students, and local elected officials.

“I should not walk into school stressed that I’m going to be another name. That I won’t get to walk with the rest of my class because I died,” she said at the March for Our Lives rally held here June 11—one of hundreds planned in response to a spate of mass shootings.

“How many March for Our Lives are we going to have ‘til you take me seriously?” asked Marriott.

The student-led organization formed in 2018 after a gunman took the lives of 17 people at Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Fla. Weeks after the shooting, the organization brought together thousands of students across the country to lead a march against gun violence.

Four years later, the group is marching once again with the same goal: to invoke change in gun legislation and put an end to gun violence.

Jecholiah was only 12 and in the 7th grade when the Parkland bloodshed happened. She remembers having a strong desire to act when she heard about Parkland, but was told she was too young to march out of school like other students had planned.

Since then, there has been no end to mass shootings—and despite the refrain of “Never Again” that accompanied the 2018 March for Our Lives, they’ve continued to happen in schools, too.

How many March for Our Lives are we going to have 'til you take me seriously?

There have been 119 school shootings since 2018, when Education Week began tracking such incidents. There have been 27 school shootings this year, putting it on track to outpace last year, when there were 34—the highest number since the news organization started keeping count.

Jecholiah knows the grim statistics. Now a junior at Cass Technical High School, she found herself heavily involved in planning a memorial for the victims of the shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford, Mich., last November.

In May, after a gunman took the lives of 21 people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, she and a group of fellow high school and college students spearheaded the March for Our Lives rally here that brought together hundreds of people.

“Not another name, not another school, and not another person,” she said.

Hafiza Khalique, a junior at Cass Technical High School, who also helped lead the rally, said that four years ago, her sister was involved in organizing the very first March for Our Lives rally in Detroit.

I was also very heartbroken after what happened in Parkland,” she said. “And here we are four years later, and the same thing is happening again.”

For some activists, a grim reunion in the District of Columbia

More than 300 local March for Our Lives events were scheduled for June 11, including one in the District of Columbia that drew a crowd of thousands. For some of its leaders, it was a bitter reunion.

Trevon Bosley is a community activist in Chicago and a member of the B.R.A.V.E. Youth Leaders, a violence prevention group run out of St. Sabina Church in the city. He’s also a board member with the March for Our Lives organization who spoke at the 2018 march, and he returned to Washington for the 2022 event.

He said he’s skeptical that Uvalde will be a turning point in the movement against gun violence. More Republican voters are now voicing support for gun control measures, like red flag laws. But he’s not confident that will translate into legislative action.

Bosley lost his cousin to gun violence in 2005. In 2006, his brother Terrell was shot and killed outside of church while preparing for band rehearsal.

“I’ve been dealing with gun violence since I was 7,” Bosley said. “As far as seeing any changes come into my community anytime soon, it doesn’t seem like it.

“It’s disheartening for sure. I’ve been fighting this fight for a long time now,” he said.

Still, Bosley said he can’t afford to feel hopeless: “This doesn’t stop. My friends are still dying. I can’t sit around and do nothing.”

Sarah Schwartz, Staff Writer contributed to this article.

Events

School Climate & Safety Webinar Engaging Every Student: How to Address Absenteeism and Build Belonging
Gain valuable insights and practical solutions to address absenteeism and build a more welcoming and supportive school environment.
Student Well-Being K-12 Essentials Forum Social-Emotional Learning 2025: Examining Priorities and Practices
Join this free virtual event to learn about SEL strategies, skills, and to hear from experts on the use and expansion of SEL programs.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Inside PLCs: Proven Strategies from K-12 Leaders
Join an expert panel to explore strategies for building collaborative PLCs, overcoming common challenges, and using data effectively.
Content provided by Otus

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Leader To Learn From One Leader’s Plan to Cut Chronic Absenteeism—One Student at a Time
Naomi Tolentino helps educators in Kansas City, Kan., support strong school attendance.
9 min read
Naomi Tolentino Miranda leads a meeting on student attendance at J.C. Harmon High School on Jan. 16, 2025 in Kansas City, Kansas. Tolentino Miranda showed school administrators recent data reflecting positive progress in combating chronic absenteeism.
Naomi Tolentino leads a meeting on student attendance at J.C. Harmon High School on Jan. 16, 2025 in Kansas City, Kansas. Tolentino showed school administrators recent data reflecting positive progress in combating chronic absenteeism.
Erin Woodiel for Education Week
School Climate & Safety Opinion Schools Can’t Just ‘Return to Normal’ After a Climate Disaster
This is what’s missing when education leaders urge schools to return to normalcy too soon after crises or disasters.
Jaleel R. Howard & Sam Blanchard
5 min read
A jungle gym melted and destroyed by the Eaton Fire is seen at a school, Jan. 15, 2025, in Altadena, Calif.
The Easton Fire melted a jungle gym outside a school in Altadena, Calif.
John Locher/AP
School Climate & Safety Tracker School Shootings This Year: How Many and Where
Education Week is tracking K-12 school shootings in 2025 with injuries or deaths. See the number of incidents and where they occurred.
3 min read
Sign indicating school zone.
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety As Wildfires Devastate Los Angeles, Educators Offer Help and Refuge
As wildfires rip through the region, educators band together for support as they work to help students and families.
9 min read
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025.
The Palisades Fire ravages a neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2025.
Ethan Swope/AP