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| POWERFUL STUDENT WALKOUT IN LOWER EAST SIDE.... — in Manhattan, New York. |
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| Shooting Survivor gave chills to everyone with her roaring speech!! Credit Glamour #emmagonzalez |
Students
were cheering as I arrived at Nest+m
on the Lower East Side, where the kids were taking part in a walkout at 10 AM,
17 minutes for the 17 kids killed in Parkland in Florida. Why are you doing this? I asked one student
who looked like she was in 9th grade.
“For gun awareness. Today is the one-month anniversary of the
shooting in Florida so we are honoring the victims.”
“We will not be silent,” noted another sign.
“Enough!” declared another.
“Not Target Practice!”
“No More Dead Children!”
“Protect students not guns!”
Visibly moved and angry, the students chanted
in support of gun laws.
They seemed a little mad they had had their
action coordinated by the school.
“They are trying to control us,” noted one
student.
“Then disobey,” noted his friend.
They debated what to do next, die in or speak
out.
But they were still out there, fighting for a
better future, one without automatic assault weapons in schools.
“This isn’t just a rally,” screamed another
student. “Lets show some respect for
those who lost their lives.”
The students held a moment of silence for the
next eight minutes, eventually sitting down in unison.
Schools across the country were doing the same,
students in universities and high schools across the country, speaking out, and
“call[ing] BS,” on the gun lobby, as Emma Gonzalves did after the shooting.
The kids reminded us, this is their world to
inherit. Today, they spoke about gun control. Yesterday, kids spoke out about
driver safety in Park Slope. Tomorrow
they are changing this world.
More walkouts are planned.
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| On March 24, the kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets of Washington DC to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today. March with us in Washington DC or march in your own community. On March 24, the collective voices of the March For Our Lives movement will be heard. https:// |
Dear Members,
Students at CUNY and public schools throughout the city will participate in the #Enough National School Walkout tomorrow, Wednesday, March 14. The peaceful walkout will take place at 10 AM and will last for 17 minutes, in remembrance of the 17 students killed during the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The student-led walkout is in protest against Congress’s continued inaction on gun control. For details of the national event and its demands, read more here.
Students have historically been at the forefront of many powerful movements for justice. The PSC joins the organizers of the walkout in commemorating the Parkland students and calling on Congress to act. We urge faculty who have classes during the 10:00 hour to provide an opportunity for students who participate in the walkout to make up the missed class time and to notify students that they will not be penalized for participating for the 17 minutes. (See the NYC Department of Education notice permitting K-12 students to participate.) We call on faculty who are not teaching at 10:00 to join the students in support, and on professional staff who can arrange for those 17 minutes to be taken as part of their lunch hour to do the same.
Students are also leading the nationwide March for Our Lives on Saturday, March 24, to demand legislation that will protect children, students and others from mass murder and gun violence. Student survivors of the mass murder in Parkland have changed the national conversation on gun control. They have organized a march in Washington, and now similar marches are being organized throughout the country. Many PSC members and CUNY students are expected to attend the Washington march, and the PSC will organize a contingent for the march in New York City. Email PSC Organizing Director Deirdre Brill if you plan to attend. For the NYC march, we will meet at W. 74th St. and Central Park West at 10 AM on Saturday, March 24.
In solidarity,
Barbara Bowen
President, PSC
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