“My little brother is in the same school as me,” said 10-year-old Annika Finzel. “We could be next.”
Thousands of people across the United States are calling for gun control Saturday in a series of March for Our Lives demonstrations.
High schoolers, parents, elementary school students and even grandparents are taking part.
March for Our Lives is born out of the activism of students across the country, particularly those from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 were killed in a Valentine’s Day shooting in Florida.
Here is why people are marching:
“A lot of us aren’t able to vote so this is kind of the only way we can make our voices heard,” said Thurston, a sophomore. She was marching at Military Park in Newark, New Jersey.
“One of them was really scared because the lockdown drills have increased,” said Anderson, 42, who is marching for her sons, ages 10 and 7.
“He was crying, ‘What if I’m in the hall, what if I can’t get to my brother?'”
More on the marches: March for our Lives rallies happening in every U. S. state: ‘We’re here and coming to make a change’
March info: March for Our Lives 2018: Info for DC, NYC, Boston and other major cities nationwide
March origins: The Parkland survivors started a movement when they took on gun violence. Here’s how it happened.
“I keep seeing people getting hurt and I don’t want it to keep happening,” said Finzel, 10. “My little brother is in the same school as me. We could be next.”
Gurel, 91, protested the Vietnam War in the 1960s and witnessed Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech. He’s marching for his great-grandchildren.
“Even if this rally and this effort doesn’t lead to change today or next week or next month, it will,” he said. “I’ve seen what impact something like this can do.”
“If they don’t hear from us today they’ll here from us in November,” said Pellegrino, a New York State assemblywoman marching with students from Long Island, N.Y. “We’re here because we want to say ‘not one more student.’”
Lisa Blair, 50, attended a march in Tallahassee, Florida, with her son Ray, 12, and daughter Elizabeth, 15.
“If we dont stop it here… it’s just scary,” said Ray, who feels people are going to start targeting different groups.
Elizabeth is here because “you don’t know if it’s going to happen at your school.”
