‘We deserve better.’ In Parkland, ‘March for Our Lives’ demands end to gun violence
Thousands of people gathered in Parkland and across the country on Saturday to rally against gun violence.
In the Pines Trail Park Amphitheater, as widows, mothers, students and teachers told their stories, a crowd stood elbow to elbow below the stage. Some wept as speakers shared their experiences. Others chanted and cheered in support.
“Most people say they want assault weapons for protection, but those weapons are used for mass shootings,” Broward School Board member Debra Hixon told the crowd. “They killed my husband, Chris, along with other students within seconds. We deserve better.“
More than four years after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, where Chris Hixon was athletic director, and just two weeks after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the March for Our Lives rallies in Parkland, Washington and across the country are calling for politicians to take a firm stance against gun violence.
Other March for Our Lives rallies were planned for Coral Gables, Washington, D.C., New York and Chicago.
At the Washington rally, speakers called on senators, who are seen as a major impediment to legislation, to act or face being voted out of office, especially given the shock to the nation’s conscience after 19 children and two teachers were killed May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
“If our government can’t do anything to stop 19 kids from being killed and slaughtered in their own school, and decapitated, it’s time to change who is in government,” said David Hogg, a survivor of the 2018 shooting that killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
A co-founder of the March for Our Lives organization that was created after that shooting and held its first rally in Washington not long afterward, Hogg led the crowd in chants of “Vote them out.”
March for Our Lives has its roots in Parkland. The organization was founded by Stoneman Douglas survivors. Four years ago, a mass shooter killed 17 people and wounded 17 others at the Broward County school.
On Saturday, more than 2,000 survivors, families, politicians and gun control advocates converged at the Parkland amphitheater. Many in the crowd held up signs saying “Vote For Our Lives,” “Never Again” and “Enough is Enough.” Others wore “Stoneman Douglas High School” shirts.
“Jaime Guttenberg , 14. Chris Hixon, 49. Luke Hoyer, 15...” said Parkland student Zoe Weissman, 16, the director of March for Our Lives for Parkland, reading the names of all 17 victims from the Parkland shooting.
Zoe was 12, and a student at a school across the street.
“I heard a scream. A scream of raw panic and fear. A scream of someone running for their life. A scream I will never forget” Zoe said as she told about running for her life, a tragedy she has said led to post-traumatic stress disorder since that time.
“Imagine this was your reality. ... Do you see why we’re angry?”
Zoe’s powerful and passionate speech led the crowd into a march around the perimeter of Pine Trails Park.
Voices from the Parkland rally
Sara Petersgil, 16, Pembroke Pines Charter High School student: “I’m done being scared going to school. And I don’t think it’s fair for me to be nervous that you’re not gonna walk out of the school. I’m done with it.”
Gayle Schwartz, gun ban advocate and Parkland family member: “The only ones who have the power to get gun reform is us, the voters. We are tired of politicians refusing to help our innocent students.”
Sheila Harvey, Pastor United Church of Christ with her 12-year-old Brandon Guillaume: “I have a 12-year-old and these shootings in public schools make me unhappy. It’s time to put feet to our prayer. It’s time to walk the walk and stop talking to talk. And that’s what we said on Sunday. And that’s what we mean. And so some of us are here to do that today. And we want change. We are we’re tired.”
This reported was supplemented with material from The Associated Press in Washington, D.C.
This story was originally published June 11, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
