Yesterday I marched for my life, and for the lives of all others affected by gun violence.
The shooting at Parkland on February 14, 2018, affected me deeply. It was driven even deeper when a drive-by shooting happened across the street from the school where I teach just days after that put my school in a lockdown.
As soon as the march organization started, I followed it. I was glad that students across the nation picked up the torch and began planning satellite marches across the nation.
I put event posters up in my classroom and gave my students space to talk about it.
I decided to march in Tampa even though I live in St. Petersburg, FL where another march was planned. I wanted to march with my colleagues and students. I didn’t end up seeing any students I’ve had in class, but I did run into some of my colleagues and another student at my school.
I chose to ride my bike to the march from St. Pete, partially because I knew traffic would be really crappy in Tampa. I started rolling at about 8:00. It was cool, there was little wind. The ride felt really good. Getting up and over the Gandy bridge was a breeze with my new bike.
I propped my protest sign up on the back using a bungee cord, and it stayed up the entire way. I hope everyone who passed me saw it! So I rode a 40-mile round-trip Bike for Our Lives to and from the event.
When I got to the event, I felt a little disappointed. It really didn’t look like that many people to me. Goes to show how misleading a mass of people can be. The Tampa Bay Times put estimates close to 15,000 people at the event.
The speakers did a great job. One student performed a rap song dedicated to the shootings, and it was awesome. The organizers did a good job making sure different demographics were well-represented.
Soon enough, the march started. We chanted, held our signs. I was afraid I was amongst a bunch of non-chanters, but eventually the people around picked up the cry. I felt proud when a couple of chants I came up with on the spot kept carrying on when my voice started to give out.
- We vote, we care, down with the NRA
- Enough is enough, get tough on guns
I started out marching with a friend I ran into, a student from my school and her family, a colleague and his family. By the end another colleague found me by following my awesome chanting voice (i.e. I have a big mouth. Hey, what can I say? Chanting is the funnest part of marching!)
I only saw one counter-protester. He stood quietly by his signs. They said something about good guys with guns…
The feeling of the march was good. Positive. Powerful.
Yet, after going I’m not sure how I feel. Some of these people came to march for the first time ever. They may expect fast change. When that doesn’t happen, they may begin to think,
“I went. I marched. It didn’t make a difference. It’s too big to change.”
The reality is that it takes constant pressure to make change. The march is the start. Now we need to collectively hold our representatives accountable. We must call. We must write. We must call our representatives out when they represent the rights of the NRA over their own constituents, and we must support those representatives that support common sense gun control.
It’s not something we can show up for once a year and expect results.
We must show up often.
And we must show up collectively. Black Lives Matter has been calling for the right for black people to live without fear of being shot since 2013. Yet the media, public, and politicians silence that message.
Anyone who thinks the Black Lives Matter movement is separate from the March for Our Lives movement is delusional. We are in this together. Adult society has let down the African American youth, as well as the American youth in general by letting automatic weapons tear our communities now.
Now is the time for change. But it takes work. It takes work in holding our representatives accountable and it takes work to look outside of our little worlds to make sure we are being inclusive to all who are affected by gun violence, not just the privileged.
And to be absolutely honest, that is all of us. This movement isn’t just about school shootings. Mass shootings have happened in dance clubs, movie theaters, churches, mosques, other places of worship.
We have the right to LIFE.
We have the right to LIBERTY.
We have the right to THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
Right now unregulated guns intercede all of these rights. And it affects some communities more than others.
The marches across the nation and the world were inspirational. But they can’t turn into a memory: a thought to be added to the other thoughts and prayers sent out for every other shooting.
They call Generation Z snowflakes. Funny thing about snow is once there is a lot of it, it becomes a blizzard. These marches were part of a big snowstorm. I hope the wind stays high and the snowflakes keep falling.
I hope the snowfall blocks in the people who don’t represent the people, and we can start to implement real change.
I am hopeful … I’ll leave it at that for now.