Shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, the doors of Center Grove High School opened and hundreds of students filed outside.
They held up handmade signs reading “Enough” and “Protect Kids Not Guns.” Chants and cheers rose up as more and more people joined in the protest.
“All we’re trying to do is make sure our school’s safer, so that the next time, we’re not the ones who are dead,” said one of the students to his classmates.
Those gathered in the cold morning had left their classrooms as part of a planned walkout. An estimated 500 students at Center Grove, as well as as about 200 at Greenwood Community High School, were part of a nationwide protest against gun violence and calls for more stringent gun regulations.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryTheir voices joined the tens of thousands of other young people, who, in the wake of yet another mass shooting, want to ensure their school isn’t the next site of a national tragedy.
“We just have to do our best to lift each other up on our shoulders and put an end to the injustice, shout loud enough that we can’t be ignored or drowned out,” said Cadence Sears, a Center Grove student. “We’re tired of being afraid, tired of fighting, but if we don’t, who will? I don’t have the words to explain how unjust and unfair it is that we have to fight this fight. I wish kids didn’t have to grow up with this; it’s tearing the nation apart but until something changes, we can’t stop.”
The walkout Wednesday was one of the biggest student protests since the Vietnam War era, according to The Associated Press. Participating students left class at 10 a.m., staying out for 17 minutes — one minute for each of the students killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14.
The coordinated protests were organized by EMPOWER, the youth wing of the Women’s March, which brought thousands to Washington last year. It offered the students a list of demands for lawmakers, including a ban on assault weapons and mandatory background checks for all gun sales.
Students from more than 3,000 schools around the country took part. Outside Greenwood Community High School, students held green balloons and signs, including a large banner that read, “Everyone who goes to school in the morning should go home safe in the evening.”
“I thought the students were all very engaged with the message the student leaders were presenting,” said Todd Garrison, principal at Greenwood. “I was proud of our students today, because they had a voice and were well-informed and civil.”
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s protest, student leaders had approached school administrators to come up with a plan to make sure students could voice their concerns while maintaining the safety for everyone at the school.
Greenwood police officers were present to ensure everyone’s safety, but no issues arose, Garrison said.
“It went completely as planned. Students came out, were very civil and well-behaved, and sent their message out,” he said. “They all returned to class on time and they had no issues.”
At the Center Grove walkout, some students stood and spoke to their classmates, rallying them to put aside political differences to work for a safer future for all students.
Organizers distributed sheets with talking points and a guide to call legislators and ask for change. They encouraged anyone who would be old enough to vote in this year’s election to register.
While a majority were supporters of greater gun control, small counter-protests did form supporting Second Amendment rights.
One student in a shirt that read “God, Guns, Trump” addressed the gathered students, saying that the best protection would be to have armed guards in the school. His words were drowned out by chants of “Enough!” after a few seconds.
But despite some differing viewpoints, Sears thought that the event was civil and respectful on both sides. The fact that so many students seemed eager to help make a change was encouraging, even if the fact that it was needed was infuriating, Sears said.
“Friends are tired of losing friends. I am personally sick of being afraid of losing my friends and family. I’m afraid of being the next person to be shot. We shouldn’t be afraid of this. I shouldn’t be scared of this. We’re too young to fear guns,” Sears said.
