Thousands of students across the Eastside left class Wednesday morning in a unified, national school walkout to demand stricter gun laws.
The local walkouts were among hundreds, if not thousands, happening at schools throughout the country. They sought to memorialize the one-month anniversary 17 students and teachers were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida.
“Twenty-six people were killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook,” Bellevue High School junior Bridget Conroy said during her school’s walkout, referencing the country’s most deadly school shooting. “Seventeen people were killed at the massacre at Stoneman Douglas. Since this year began, there have been 19 school shootings. Since Sandy Hook, 1,607 school shootings have occurred.”
At least 19 Seattle schools joined in the action, each demanding that Congress prevent future mass shootings by passing stricter gun control legislation. Garfield High School sophomores Treat and Mace spearheaded their school’s walkout once they realized that it wasn’t included in the national walkout list.
Garfield High School students stand in silence to protest gun violence. Photo by Melissa Hellmann
“We want to make this more than just a walkout. We want to make it an opportunity for you to raise your voice for real change to occur,” Treat said, facing the crowd at the demonstration. He encouraged students to retreat to tables in the courtyard to sign letters to politicians and register to vote.
“Please continue to educate yourself and make sure that you are setting the example for those who come after you. We are the generation that will change this,” Mace concluded.
In Kirkland, Juanita High School students took their walkout to the streets.
Students raised their signs and cheered as numerous passersby honked and waved in support. Kirkland police and school officials helped escort the march as it circled a short stretch of road outside the entrance to the school. Kirkland’s International Community School, Robert Frost Elementary School and several other schools throughout the region saw similar protests that joined the national movement.
More than 200 student activists from Juanita High School marched in a 17-minute protest. Kailan Manandic/staff photo
“I’m really tired of my friends not feeling safe at school, I’m tired of not feeling safe at school and I feel like ive seen on social media the whole cycle we get of thoughts and prayers and then we forget and another shooting happens,” Sylvia-Anne Bowman, a sophomore at Juanita High School who has been involved with the school’s multiple protests, said. “That cycle needs to end.”
Juanita students have organized another gun violence protests scheduled for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
Ava Safaeian, with the French American School of Puget Sound in Mercer Island, said that school decided to have a 17-minute-long event to show support to the victims of the shooting, which included a moment of silence and peaceful protest on banning assault rifles.
“Even though geography says we’re 3,266 miles away, we still want to show our support to the victims of the shooting,” Safaeian said.
Catholic private school St. Monica School, also in Mercer Island, showed their support in a “uniquely Catholic manner,” Krista Pittiglio said.
The students prayed in a “living rosary” around 17 crosses to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting. After the prayers, students then shared their petitions for the victims, families and communities affected and, in class, brainstormed 17 ways to make a difference in someone else’s life using the hashtag #whatsyour17.
Students at St. Monica School, a private Catholic school based in Mercer Island, prayed for the 17 victims of the Parkland school shooting. Photo courtesy of Krista Pittiglio
Students at Inglewood Middle School in Sammamish met at the school’s flagpole for their walkout.
“We are doing this because we believe that our leaders need to make a change to help keep us safe,” Belle Schmidt, an Inglewood Middle School public relations officer said. “We don’t want to have the difficult conversations in class of what to do in case a shooting ever happened to us every time a school shooting occurs when they could have been prevented. We believe that some sort of gun control is appropriate.”
Shavi Sikaria, a junior at Eastlake High School in Sammamish, said a large group of students participated in the walkout at the high school, which included an open mic for students to talk about the issue.
Students from the Overlake School in Redmond also assembled around a flagpole in the center of campus at 10 a.m. as student speakers took turns reading out the names and some personal details of the Marjory Stoneman Douglass shooting victims.
Overlake students participate in a walkout at the Redmond school, calling on legislators and Congress to enact “common sense” gun control laws. Photo courtesy of Susan Messier, The Overlake School
Student speakers called for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the February attacks. Middle school students took to the microphone to give speeches.
Musab C. gave a passionate speech quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and urged students to keep pushing for an end to gun violence. The theme of creating a movement that went beyond the school and into the community was front and center during the walkout.
“This is anything but normal,” he said. “…Where will we stand, what will we do, what will we change?”
Kate L. said students must take the lead on combatting gun violence by throwing out NRA-backed politicians and pushing for legislative reforms like increasing age limits to buy firearms.
It wasn’t just students who got involved, however.
Sammamish resident and parent of an Overlake School (in Redmond) student, Randee Fox, said Plateaupians For Peace, a nonprofit Sammamish community group, of which she is also part of, created a sub-group of parents concerned about gun reform.
As a group, their mission is to research information, educate and advocate for the community and support those who wish to organize for gun reform on the National School Walkout day (March 14) and the upcoming April 20 rally, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
Students at Chief Kanim Middle School held a similar rally.
“I feel it’s important that our children have a voice in matters that effect them,” Fall City resident and parent Tanya Maw said Wednesday morning.
Students at Bellevue High School held signs during a walkout calling on legislators and Congress to enact “common sense” gun control laws. Photo courtesy of Bellevue School District
Since the Parkland school shooting, teens have gained national media attention in their attempts to convince Congress to enact legislation on gun control.
Although there has been stagnation at a national level, Rep. Vandana Slatter, a Democrat with the 48th Legislative District, said the Washington state Legislature recently passed four bills centered on “common sense” gun control. Those new laws stipulate those who are convicted of domestic violence harassment will not be allowed to purchase guns; a law that banned bump stocks (Senate Bill 5992); and stricter concealed pistol license laws when those weapons are picked up by law enforcement (House Bill 2519); and the opportunity for individuals to put themselves on a no gun purchase/ownership list in case they have poor mental health or suicidal ideation (Senate Bill 5553).
Slatter, who was at the Bellevue High School student walkout, said the legislators were unable to this session but will still try to pass Senate Bill 6620, which would implement an emergency response system for school safety as well as prohibits the sale or transfer of semiautomatic rifles unless both a federal and a state background check have been completed through law enforcement. It would also prohibit a person under the age of 21 from being able to purchase a semiautomatic rifle.
“They’ve had enough,” Slatter said. “That’s what I really heard here. As a legislator, I wanted to be here in solidarity with them because I think that we struggle with how to resolve this issue and it shouldn’t be that hard for a first world country to do this.”
But not everyone agreed with the sentiment that gun control measures were the answer to reducing gun violence.
A solitary 16-year-old Bellevue High School sophomore, Charlie Kern, walked up to the front of the Bellevue High School student walkout and held a sign that read: “More guns, less crime.”
Bellevue High School student Charlie Kern holds a sign calling for “more guns, less crime” as another student holds a sign that reads “books, not bullets.” The walkout was student-led and students were able share their opinions and have a dialogue with one another. Raechel Dawson/staff photo
Some were quick to try to block his message but he remained at the front throughout the last speech and during the moment of silence the students had for the 17 Stoneman Douglas High School students who were killed.
When asked about his stance, Kern responded, “I am holding this sign because I believe more guns equals less crime. I believe that background checks aren’t going to keep the illegals, or people, from getting guns.”
Bellevue High School sophomore Sofia Larrondo, 16, said she’s tired of feeling as though the issue of gun violence is being normalized.
“As a daughter, sister, student and friend I have never felt more threatened,” she said. “If you would have asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have told you I felt sad and scared. But not now. No, I am furious.”
Larrondo said she’s furious because since the start of the year, a school has been “shot up” every four days on average.
“Those who died in Parkland on Feb. 14 should not die in vain and they will not die in vain,” she said.
Bellevue High School junior Haley Cook, 17, said she believed her generation is the generation of change. And it’s her generation that can make the United States a safe place not only in schools, but in movie theaters, places of worship and concerts, she said.
Slatter agrees.
“I would like to say that I’m sorry as adults we haven’t been able to make movement on this and that it takes young people’s voices,” she said. “But I feel so inspired by their ability to create a courageous space for remembrance for solidarity, for hope and for determination and that this would never happen again.”
The National School Walkout was initially called upon by the Women’s March Youth Empower group. The walkouts were intended to last for 17 minutes at 10 a.m., a minute honoring each victim of the Parkland school shooting.
Melissa Hellmann, Kailan Manandic, and Aaron Kunkler contributed to this report.
