Voices From the March: ‘I Shouldn’t Have to be Afraid to Go to School Every Day’

There was passion, politics and the call for future action as an estimated 200,000 people gathered in Washington for the March for Our Lives March 24. With chants of “Vote them out,” those at the rally demanded that politicians pass stricter gun control laws or face the consequences. The event was organized by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students and educators were killed on Valentine’s Day when a former-student opened fire with an assault-style weapon. The crowd jammed Pennsylvania Avenue from near the White House to the Capitol, carrying signs that read “Never Again,” “Am I Next?” And “I Belong in a School Zone, not a War Zone.” We spoke with teachers and students who had travelled from around the country to show solidarity and, as one person put it, to see “power grow from pain.” Students spoke of being afraid to go to school, and teachers insisted they should not have to carry guns into the classroom. Despite years of congressional inaction on gun control, those at the rally were hoping that Parkland will prove the tipping point, and that this is a moment of change.