Teen activism against gun violence grows in actions nationwide

By Michael Z. Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Mar 20, 2018 - 2:20:09 PM

Students from schools in Chicago participated in March 14 demonstrations against gun violence. Photos: Haroon Rajaee

Young people hold signs of people who have been killed by gun violence. Students around the country held demonstrations.

Across the country from small cities like Chester, Pa., to large metropolitan area such as Los Angeles, Calif., teenage students showed a dominant display of unity as they walked out of class to protest gun violence and demand safety. Reports estimated over one million students participated nationwide.

Organized by Empower, the official youth wing of the Women’s March, the March 14 demonstration commemorated 17 students and teachers who were shot to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., one month ago. The students walked out of class for at least 17 minutes—one minute for each person gunned down in Parkland. Shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was indicted on 34 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. Authorities said he used an AR-15 assault rifle in the Feb. 14 attack.

“We are living in an age where young people like us do not feel safe in our schools. This issue is personal for all of us, especially for those of us who are survivors of gun violence. We are walking out for ALL people who have experienced gun violence, including systemic forms of gun violence that disproportionately impact teens in Black and Brown communities,” stated Empower’s statement of purpose regarding the national walkout hashtagged #enough.

“It is important that when we refer to gun violence, we do not overlook the impact of police brutality and militarized policing, or see police in schools as a solution. We also recognize the United States has exported gun violence through imperialist foreign policy to destabilize other nations. We raise our voices for action against all these forms of gun violence,” the statement continued.

For inner city schools, the nationwide protest took on a more powerful meaning. Students in cities like Philadelphia have been protesting for years. They are asking what took so long? According to WHYY News, walkouts are a student staple in inner-city Philadelphia schools: “Their fury over everything from overcrowded classrooms to teacher layoffs launches them out of their classrooms and into the streets with signs in their hands and chants on their lips. Violence is a constant theme: Students have held die-ins, boycotts, and marches to demand an end to violence in their communities and at school, whether at the hands of police or others.”

Gun violence is unfortunately not a unique or new issue for many Black Chicago teens. Many have been active in their communities demanding resources to help address the problem.

It is also true in other cities like Chicago where children from Henderson Elementary School marched last year, or the students at Sylmar High School in Los Angeles who did the same and countless other predominately Black and Latino schools and communities that have been plagued by gun violence. Most of which has been largely ignored by mainstream media.

“Black people, unfortunately, continue to be criminalized for our moments of courage, for our moments of mourning and grieving,” Black Lives Matter Network co-founder Patrisse Cullors observed during a Black History event last month.

“I know a couple of people ... had mixed feelings towards the walkout, because they felt if it was a Black student being gunned down or Black students being shot or shot at, it wouldn’t have got so much coverage,” Jaelah Jackson, a 15-year-old who participated in the school walkout in Brooklyn, told The Guardian.

At Mastery Charter School, Shoemaker Campus in Philadelphia, under the direction of principal Sharif El Mekki social justice is taken very seriously. “This action reminds me of Fred Hampton and the original Rainbow Coalition where Black, Brown and White communities were really looking at and addressing systemic issues that comes out of capitalism. I am hoping this is a reinvigorating opportunity for our youth to lead this charge,” Mr. El Mekki told The Final Call.

Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina church on the city’s Southwest Side. The activist priest participated with students during the March 14 walkout. Photos: Haroon Rajaee

He stated students at Shoemaker H.S. collectively decided not to participate in the nation wide action. “Our students choose not to walk out for a couple of reasons. One, they felt the walkout did not speak to what their larger concerns were. Though they were horrified by any act of violence what they saw was the hypocrisy of the politicians and policy makers while they are opening doors for White children who are advocating but closing some of those same doors to groups like Back Lives Matter and other youth groups,” explained Mr. El Mekki. “They wanted to make sure they were involved in a protest that spoke to a much larger pervasive issues of gun violence and the hypocrisy of politicians in America.”

Lastly Mr. El Mekki explained that at Shoemaker social action is taken very seriously. His eighth grade history class is taught as a social justice class providing students with a foundation before entering high school. “We want our students to enter high school totally aware of their power and the legacy of resistance that runs in our community. The idea to be upstanding instead of by standing towards injustice where ever they might see that. We want them to immediately see themselves as change agents rather than wait until adulthood.”

Students in Chicago protest gun violence.

Meanwhile, inner-city Black and Brown student protests nationwide for those who did take part, took on an entirely different flavor. In Atlanta, high school students took a knee in protest. In Baltimore and Chicago, teenagers called for programs to address poverty and mental health services. And in Brooklyn, students demanded the police system to be reformed, according to a report in The Guardian.

The nationwide student protest had demands, including:

Banning Assault Weapons & High Capacity Magazines

Expanding Background Checks to All Gun Sales

Passing Gun Violence Restraining Order Law

Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act

What the actions achieved in the minds of many is the resolve and social media acumen the young men and women have demonstrated. Future activities are to include a March 24 event called “March for Our lives” to be held in Washington, D.C. Another protest is planned for April 20 to commemorate the anniversary of the Columbine High School mass shooting in Littleton, Colorado.

The student protest also served to keep the issue of gun violence front and center and put pressure on lawmakers both local and national to act.The duplicity of the national march, however, was not lost on student Quiana Fulton when she recently Tweeted.

“When Black children staged a walk-out in memory of Mike Brown and against police brutality they were called thugs. White kids in Parkland staged a walk-out in protest of gun violence and were mostly praised. I ask then, why should young Black Americans care about America?”

The Final Call