My heart breaks for these children. These children are doing everything they can to get all of the adults to pay attention, to take them seriously, to listen to them describe their very real fears. And my fear, as an adult, is that nothing will come of it. The March For Our Lives took place on Saturday. There were literally millions of adults and children marching in cities across America, and in marches around the world. Celebrities attended the marches too, which I’ll cover separately. This post is just about the speakers, the children and their vital voices. This is in no way comprehensive, I’m just trying to talk about the speakers who made the biggest impact.
Here’s 11-year-old Naomi Wadler. She led a walkout in her school in Virginia against gun violence, and she said, in part, “I am here today to represent Courtlin Arrington. I am here today to represent Hadiya Pendleton. I am here today to represent Taiyania Thompson, who at just 16 was shot dead at her home in Washington, D.C. I am here to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don’t lead on the evening news….I’m here to say never again for those girls, too. I am here to say that everyone should value those girls, too.”
Here’s Emma Gonzalez, one of the Parkland survivors who has gotten the most attention for being so well-spoken and passionate. Emma’s speech and moment of silence all totalled six minutes and 30 seconds, the time it took for a teenager to murder her classmates.
Here’s the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Junior’s granddaughter Yolanda Renee King, saying “I have a dream… that enough is enough.”
Here’s Parkland student David Hogg talking about how how change comes through VOTING and that the people in the power are shaking.
Chicago teen Mya Middleton: “Guns have become the voice of America and the government is becoming more negligent to this predicament by the day.”
Some good tweets and good photos of the crowd size:
This sign deserves a pulitzer #marchforourlives (📸 @claremarienyc) pic.twitter.com/9qHcEjbhq6
— Liz Plank (@feministabulous) March 24, 2018
Just a reminder of how powerful and inspiring yesterday was. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/AuiOYMC4bT
— Chris Quilietti (@ChrisQ_1) March 25, 2018
Organizers estimate more than 800k marched in DC. If they're correct, #MarchForOurLives would be the largest single day protest in DC history. pic.twitter.com/lYundBABox
— Never Again Movement (@NeverAgainMov) March 25, 2018
While you were enjoying your 97th vacation day yesterday, some patriots showed up in your neighborhood. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/Wi2AhYHg6Z
— Alan Parker (@CityAlanCentra2) March 25, 2018
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
These kids make me hopeful for the future, and the turnout makes me hopeful for the midterms.
These kids are doing God’s work!!!!! I salute and honor them!
i really hope that these kids will remember this when they are old enough to vote. 3 years is a long time in teen. Please don’t forget this!!
YES!!!
I love this post and I am so proud of the kids!
NO ONE will ever even see this comment, as I have apparently been doomed to permanent moderation. Yet, I have to (attempt to) say it.
They were kids dropped into a war gruesome war zone. That they’re battling this trauma and embracing it. Working for a real difference. Gaining momentum.
These young adults are inspirational.
I was originally headed to Boston but plans changed and I stayed more local. Went to the march in Hartford where 13,000 people showed up. I heard some amazing young people speak. It was a very uplifting day. Lots of voter registration happening. Now we all need to march to our polling places in November.
I intended to go to the march in Hartford, I’m happy to hear it was a large turn out. Hopefully Connecticut will start listening.
I knew Sen. Chris Murphy back in college. He’s a good guy and on the right side of this fight – and always has been.
I’m sure you already know this, but the problem in CT is the presence of the gun manufacturers. Colt and Ruger are both headquartered in CT. Smith & Wesson is right over the border in Springfield, MA – and they employ a lot of people. They also donate heavily to those in the state legislature (they hate Murphy).
I think the tide in CT started to change after Sandy Hook, but it’s hard to vote against your paycheck.
I was at the march in NYC and it was incredible to see. It was also wonderful to see all the voter registration people coming up to my daughter – she’s only 13, but she’s 5’7″, so they all thought she was old enough to try to register. She’s eligible for the 2022 midterms.
@Liz, Senator Murphy seems like one of the good guys. Nice to have it confirmed by someone that knows him.
My 14 year old daughter is 6 feet tall so she is always mistaken for being older than she is. Sadly, she will miss being able to vote in 2020 by 6 months.
It was an amazing day; I attended! But the fight is not over. We have to register people to vote and cut NRA donation taking politicians in midterm elections.
And that is the key – voting. The people who want gun control, single-payer healthcare, money put into education, etc… are the MAJORITY.
If in November they actually acted like it they could turn each 30 piece bag of NRA silver into a millstone round the necks of every corrupt GOP politician who refuses to represent their constituents and watch them drown in the murky waters of the DC swamp*.
*which is even swampier with lobbyist cash now than it was before Two Scoops promised to drain it. And I am shocked, SHOCKED!!
@Linabear – I went to the D.C. March too, with my husband and our 3 children.
Two days later and I’m still so awe-struck by all the young Americans on stage and in the crowd.
And yes, as we all chanted repeatedly
“VOTE THEM OUT!”
The politicians are beyond stupid. They think “oh they’re children, no danger to me!” They forget that the high schoolers will be voting soon, and that those kids have older siblings, and proud parents and grandparents who will vote them out the first chance they get. So let the stupid among us rattle on about needing an automatic weapon while we elect people who value lives over guns.
I went to DC with my almost 16 year old, and she can vote in 2020, and I can tell you she was listening. Young adults vote at an alarmingly low rate, generally less than 20% and this is historical. It doesn’t seem to matter which generation. Every time we urge them to go vote, and I am hoping this finally happens. Cause I think we would have a very different government if all people took their civic duty a bit more seriously. I’m hoping this does change things, because these kids were amazing.
FYI just watching the news and apparently their are 22 million new young voters who will available for 2020 election. An organization called 22 million for 20 is being set up to get more of the registered and voting.
Reading all the news about the march makes me think of Obama’s book title, The Audacity of Hope. Who really knew during the Obama years that daring to hope for better things for our country and our kids would feel even more audacious, even more impossible only a few years later. It’s actually scary to feel the tiny flicker of hope that these kids and this protest have ignited, because it feels like hope gets squashed at every turn. But I’m letting myself hope a little bit. (And finding ways to support anti-gun candidates for the midterms). These kids are amazing.
Gives me hope. But Naomi’s speech broke my heart. At 11 she already knows injustice and inequality for people that look like her. I can relate to that but it made me tear up.
She was amazing. I also thought the guys from Kenwood Academy in Chicago were powerful. I was happy to see such a diverse group. The speeches gave me chills and had me in tears.
I really hope Kaiser is wrong on this, that this movement has not all been in vain.
Kenwood Academy…SOUFSIDE!!! That’s HOME for me!!!!
My BF and I bawled like babies listening to that speech.
Did anybody listen to The Daily (NYT podcast) today? These kids aren’t going to go quietly into the night.
It’s also a good reminder that those of us who are privileged to be white need to make sure OUR eleven year olds are trained to recognize oppression so they can grow up understanding they need to help erase it for people like Naomi.
Bigly won’t like that. His inauguration crowds were yuuger.
those kids are amazing and I hope they go into politics to be the great future leaders they are. Some of the banners were great and am glad it was about the kids and not the clelbs who attended.
Tiny hands
Tiny feet
All he does is
Tweet tweet tweet
Amazing amazing kids. I am rooting for them and the sane American adults. We (or at least I the foreigner) do not want a messed up America!
I am so proud of these kids. The NRA and anyone who supports them have blood on their hands.
If we’re going to talk about “rights.” My kids have the right to be safe at school. We have the right to be able to go to the mall, movie theater or anywhere public and not become target practice for some nutjob.
The NRAs response was absolutely disgusting, I was appalled whe I read those comments their head Twat made. They act like this as they have the president and congress paid for and 5ink they are untouchable- please give them the bloody nose they deserve in November great people of the USA. Am British and stand with u all spirit.
Naomi made more sense in 5 minutes than Emperor Zero has made in 14 months.
I heard someone say Naomi could be President in 2040. She could be President NOW, Ffs.
As President, Naomi won’t fall for signing an Omnibus package keeping the government from shutting down that includes ANONYMOUS legislation that imposes new sanctions on Russia.
But Emperor Zero did! 😂
Next time someone should anonymously include legislation for the “president’s” resignation. The Dotatd will sign it!
I love this. It’s great and it’s encouraging and necessary. Not gonna lie, I was worried this wouldn’t get people off their butts but I’m so glad I was wrong.
And next time these people are going to show up for BLM, yes?
I hope so. The lack of mainstream support communities of color get is heartbreaking. We need to do more.
They won’t. The Take a Knee march/protest I did had 30 people—compare that to the reported 70K in Boston on Saturday.
That being said, we carried BLM signs (mine had stats of gun violence against WOC on one side, BLM and intersectional feminist on the other side) and we saw a LOT of BLM signs around us at the march here in Boston. I was pleasantly surprised because I assumed there would be mostly anti-Trump stuff (almost none, really) and Save Our Children!! (plenty of that) signs. People did a good job keeping the focus on gun violence and not political partisanship.
LOTS of kids marching. I’m normally more into peace drums than marching bands (there were a couple of horn section in our march) but the kids were dancing and seemed to enjoy it, despite the somber subject matter…and anything that makes the kids enthusiastic about protesting or makes it fun for them, I’m down with.
Nope. Black people dying, white people do not care about.
GOP White Politicians don’t care. There are a lot of us who care and march and fight with our (DC) police and Mayor for equal respect.
You might be right a lot of white people don’t care or more likely for most they don’t care enough to figure out what to do about it. But you know who does, those kids. I was there, and it wasn’t just mass school shooting victims talking, it was children who had been affected by all gun violence. The MSD/Parkland kids knew most of them were white and definitely privileged kids, and they acknowledged this gave them the platform to speak where others didn’t have that ability. They shared it with many people of color who gun violence was an everyday occurrence. Maybe with this new generation, it will change.
These kids purposely included black children and complained the coverage was too white and didn’t show their black schoolmates enough. They have decided to be allies and said they wanted to use their white privilege to help minorities.
They get it.
You should check out how they approached it.
The grace and eloquence of these kids is amazing.
I was so happy with the turnout and i do believe that activism is contagious and will lead to good.
Hopefully we will have great turnout in the November elections.
The 20th anniversary of the Jonesboro, AK shooting was So proud of all these kids across the US who are rising up and did such a fantastic job Saturday in cities everywhere. Adults have let them down time and time again. I marched in Boston Saturday. Dumbledore’s Army is still recruiting and they will vote for change. EXPELLIARMUS!
I couldn’t believe she was 11! I was a decently well spoken teenager, and did some public speaking starting around age 8 (4-H, whoop whooop!) but no way would I have sounded so confident and intelligent in front of an international crowd on such an important subject. There’s much to be admired about these kids.
Especially the fact that they’ll grow up and be powerhouses in whatever field they choose!
Agreed. It’s sad that at such early ages these kids have had to deal with issues like this on such a personal level. They’re an inspiration though- all of them handling it with more sense, compassion, and class than gun-obsessed ‘grown-ups’ 3 and 4 times their ages.
Reports are we had about 10K turn out in Nashville! Many positive and heart-wrenching speeches. Crowd was majority young people. As I’ve mentioned in comments after the Women’s marches, the most powerful affect of these gatherings is networking among people who want change. I attended the 1987 and 1993 marches for gay rights in DC in my 20s, when Reagan and the Congress had turned their back on the deaths of our friends from AIDS. Our cause was hopeless at the time, but we came together in hundreds of ways to dig in, organize, donate our time and money and vote. It worked. This movement to regulate guns, prevent violence, call out police brutality and create peaceful schools will win eventually. These kids and young adults are not going to let the senseless deaths of their friends go unavenged.
Naomi was amazing.
I hope politicians, on both sides of the aisle, were paying attention. It was the kids and teenagers who are getting angry and mobilized to say it is not enough to ignore their pain and continue to support groups like the NRA or wring your hands and say there’s a problem but we can’t do anything about it. Those who came out to march and those who support them don’t want lip service; we want actual change. Within the next few years, these same kids and teenagers will be voters and they will remember who stood beside them and who dismissed them.
What makes this different than, “pant suit nation” veered towards for white women by white women is these kids check their privilege. They get it. That’s what gives me hope. They understand their voice is magnified because of their skin color and their neighborhood so they bring people that have been fighting this fight to focus attention on the unnamed and unreported. Keep it up kids. What a heavy burden for you to carry because the rest of us can come up with a million excuses to not fix the problem.
Who knew you could generate so much support by making the political movement boil down to, “Oh hey, please stop letting us be murdered indiscriminately.” 9_9 Man, did 1984 ever get it right about how banal dystopia really is.
I watched the live broadcast here in Finland and was in tears most of the time. It was all so powerful and moving. I would like to bring up Edna Chavez from LA South Central, she was also amazing.
There’s hope. Times they are a-changin’.
So many amazing kids and teenagers. This one’s for everyone who says this generation is lost.
I’m glad to see this covered in CB. I began following those teens’ twitter accounts soon after I heard they had began a movement.
They are all very intelligent and are not buying the “freedom” argument, they know the NRA just wants to sell more guns and doesn’t care about anyone’s safety.
They’re well organized, so I hope people vote to pass that law to ban those weapons from being bought by civilians.
Naomi Wadler is my HERO! 11 Years Old!!!
Her speech broke my heart (again and again); left me shook anytime I replayed it in my head. All I could do was nod my head constantly and cry.
It is so disgraceful that 11 year old CHILD is compelled to make such an impactful speech, one in which everyone knows is the God’s honest truth and yet the reality never seems to change.
A side note to the wonderfullness that is these kids…
Can someone please explain to me (a non-American) what Trump keeps rambling about in relation to DACA? Is he now trying to tell people under DACA that the Democrats abandoned them and he is looking after them when he has been the one attacking them?? Or is he telling right wing nutters to remember the “terribleness” of DACA and that is looking after the racists and xenophobes? I’m confused. I could google but to be honest I’m tired of reading about him and I don’t want to read an entire depressing article.
Trump was just trying to zing the Democrats who signed off on the Budget deal Friday without a DACA agreement. The courts have delayed DACA’s decision, and the Democrats don’t have the numbers to keep DACA yet, so they are kind of working on the edges trying to get bits and pieces of things. It really was a bit crazy, even for him, because I don’t think even diehard Trumpsters believed he was going to sign any bill that would let the Dreamers stay unhindered, considering he agreed to one with Nancy & Chuck and then rescinded a few hours later. It might have just been bluster to keep us from talking about other things. He’s a master at distraction. Am I the only one who thinks Trump is his White House leaker. Honestly who is left. I think he likes the drama more than anything.
A wonderful day that gave me so much hope which has been in short supply since trump’s election. I saw a scary chart that said that 70% of 18-29 year olds and 60% of 29-44 didn’t vote in 2016. Only 15% of over 65’s didn’t vote-that’s one of the reasons we got trump. A movement like this will motivate and bring young people to the polls. Fingers crossed for 2018 and 2020.
I hope these kids bring change.
I’m with them, they are intelligent, brave and articulate.
I think generation Z are going to revolutionize the world.
So many comments on here and dont jump on me but what is the answer? And how would you go about it?
Step 1: Vote against any and all elected officials that accept campaign donations from the NRA who have blocked reasonable gun-control legislation, both at the local and national level.
Step 2: When Step 1 is successful, hold the newly elected politicians accountable, and remind them we can and we will vote them out of office too if they don’t take action on gun-control.
Get serious about universal background checks. Enact permanent, national restrictions on assault-style weapons and devices that can turn semi-automatic weapons into full automatics. Restrict large-capacity magazines for those types of weapons.
This.
Vote vote vote vote. Only 58% of eligible voters voted in 2016. That number goes down to 40% in midterms. And the people voting in large numbers are over 65 and trend republican. The young must vote and be heard!
There also needs to be a massive shift in the dialogue and values in American culture to make any change work. So much of the American media and comments in discussion boards are “us vs them”, “we’re right, they are wrong”, and so on. The root cause of the desire to hurt each other is pain and being dismissed, or being invisible to each other, and the means are mass shootings. There needs to be significant mental health reform, a return to community and connectedness and a self-identity that makes space for other people’s truths for the good of human kind.
The peanut butter/guns comparison….devastating.
I work in the school district my kids attended (now both in college). Every day I push in and out of the doors that have the gun with a red slash through it. It makes me sick to see a picture of a gun on school doors, how have we come to this?
Another sign I saw was my school uniform is more regulated than guns. The march was amazing, and these kids are also very creative.
I’m so proud of the next generation of young adults. I really hope they can make the changes that our generation has failed to do.
Betcha vote next time, Snowflake.