Volume 83, Issue 25 Web Edition
March for Our Lives
By Madison Ramsey
staff Writer
Washington, D.C. — On March 24, tens
of thousands of marchers descended on
Pennsylvania Ave for the March for Our Lives,
a demonstration organized as a response in part
because of the Parkland school shooting.
The organizers of the march estimated that
about 800,000 people showed up for the event,
while there were more than 800 other sister
marches around the world.
Speakers at the event included Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School students
Sarah Chadwick, Jaclyn Corin, Ryan Deitsch,
Sam Puentes, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg,
Cameron Kasky and Alex Wind. Also,
Edna Chavez and Yolanda Renee King, the
granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr. spoke
at the event.
All of the speakers touched on how gun
violence has affected themselves and their
community, and some, like David Hogg, called
lawmakers out for taking money from the
NRA. At the beginning of his speech, Hogg
tied a $1.05 price tag around the microphone,
explaining that it was “a reminder for you guys
to know how much Marco Rubio took for every
student’s life in Florida.”
He also took a strong stance against lawmakers
and others who have criticized the movement
and failed to enact gun reform policies. “When
politicians say that your voice doesn’t matter
because the NRA owns them, we say: No
more,” Hogg said. “When politicians send their
thoughts and prayers with no action, we say:
No more.”
Edna Chavez, a 17-year-old from south Los
Angeles, spoke on how her community has
become desensitized to the issue due to the
frequent gun violence in her community. “For
decades, my community of South Los Angeles
has become accustomed to this violence,” said
Chavez. “It is normal to see flowers honoring
the lives of black and brown youth that have lost
their lives to a bullet.”
Yolanda Reene King, the six-year-
granddaughter of Martin Luther King Jr., also
spoke, referring to her grandfather. “I have a
dream that enough is enough,” Yolanda King
said. “And that this should be a gun-free world,
period.”
Emma Gonzalez, another student from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and
the flnal speaker at the march, stood on stage
for six minutes and twenty seconds, the exact
time that the shooting lasted, before beginning
her speech. “Six minutes and 20 seconds,”
Gonzalez said. “In a little over six minutes, 17 of
our friends were taken from us. 15 were injured.
And everyone—absolutely, everyone—in the
Douglas community was forever altered.”
Protesters gather in Washington, D.C. across the street from the Trump Internationai Hotel during Saturday’s March for Our Lives.