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2018 March For Our Lives
Topic Started: Mar 24 2018, 02:47 AM (96 Views)
Webster
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The Guardian: March for our Lives protests planned for 800 places across the world

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Hundreds of thousands of marchers are expected to descend on Washington DC on Saturday for a landmark gun control rally as calls for reform reach a fever pitch following the Parkland school shooting last month.

March for Our Lives events led by young people in over 800 locations around the world – including London, Sydney, Tokyo, Mumbai, plus hundreds of places in the US – will also take place as demonstrators demand that the US Congress, for decades dormant on gun control, pass sweeping legislative change.

The rally, organized by teenaged survivors of the 14 February school shooting that left 17 students and teachers dead, marks a shift in America’s gun control debate. All of the featured speakers at the rally will be teenagers, a spokeswoman for the march said, reflecting the frustration of the young gun control activists, who say the death of their classmates has forced them to tackle a crisis that adults have failed for decades to prevent.

Donald Trump, who has flip-flopped on his support for gun control measures and vowed to support the NRA, which spent more than $30m to back his campaign for the White House, left town on Friday evening and flew to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort.

The rally organizers say that they support Americans’ basic right to own guns, but they are demanding that Congress ban the military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines often used in high-profile mass shootings, as well as close loopholes in the nation’s background check requirements for gun sales.

A new survey of American teenagers and young adults found that gun violence was at the top of the list of issues they found most worrying. Americans under 18 were especially concerned, with 53% of them describing gun violence as a major worry. The USA Today/Ipsos poll found that more than one in three young people were planning to join the March for Our Lives protests, either in person or via social media.

Sheryl Acquaroli, a 16-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, said she knew immediately she would travel to Washington to join the march. “It’s going to be very revolutionary,” she said. “We are going to change laws there, and I want to be part of that change.”

Jon White, 47, whose daughter Katrina fled the school during the shooting, said: “I don’t have a lot of confidence in my generation. I believe in millennials. They’re going to make a difference.” Among the performers at the Saturday rally are Lin-Manuel Miranda, Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande.

As hundreds of students from Stoneman Douglas make the 1,000-mile journey to the nation’s capital, the Guardian announced an editorial collaboration with the school’s award-winning newspaper, the Eagle Eye.

On Friday, student editors took control of the Guardian’s website and published an array of articles, including an interview with independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who told them he believed the NRA’s grip on Congress “may be breaking a bit” because of their campaigning.

The Eagle Eye also published a manifesto of demands, including a call to ban the sale of high velocity semi-automatic weapons, expand background checks, and raise the minimum purchase age of rifles to 21. Members of the Eagle Eye’s editorial staff will also travel to Washington to cover the march as special correspondents for the Guardian.
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Some long-time gun violence activists are hailing how the Parkland teenagers have reinvigorated the movement, while also pushing for the momentum to be delivered to black and Latino communities – which are disproportionately affected by gun violence.

This week, representatives from those communities gathered at the Urban Gun Violence Town Hall in Atlanta.

The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reported on the efforts to bring the momentum of the movement to end gun violence to the communities that need it most: Activists came from inner-cities across the country – from Chicago, Oakland, New York City, Miami and beyond – to discuss whether the desire for gun reform can be channelled towards preventing everyday gun violence.

“Background checks and assault weapons bans – this doesn’t solve all the gun violence. It doesn’t solve why people want to take up a gun,” Mosley told the Guardian. “I’m so fearful that once this banner goes up of ‘mission accomplished’ that we won’t talk about high unemployment rates, or how people can’t find a job. How they’re told that every door of opportunity is closed for them but prison.”

-Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/23/activists-hope-anti-gun-movement-tackles-violence-in-poor-communities-too
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(The Guardian) Melissa Falkowski, a journalism teacher at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, sends this video of the crowd in Washington....



Her students are continuing to interview marchers. “I lost my daughter to gun violence four years ago,” Paula Cross of Willoughby Hills, Ohio, told Rebecca Schneid. “There are so many things that need to be done that aren’t being done. I came to support the movement you kids are starting.”

“Kids like me shouldn’t be at school and be worrying about dying,” said 17-year-old Samanthan Konigsberg of Dalton high school in New York City. “Ninety-six people a day die from gun violence. Why do we have to be worrying about getting shot instead of SATs and Prom? It’s ruining our childhood.”

“I went to the women’s march a year ago and that was got me started with activism,” said 17-year-old Leah Campbell, who goes to Severna Park High School in Maryland.

“We will be able to vote soon, and unless they start taking action, they’re not going to be in office much longer,” Aja Mathis, an 11th grader from New Jersey, told Christy Ma.

“I’m here to fight for change in gun regulations,” Alexx Vieux told Lewis Mizen. “It means the world to be a part of a movement that has sparked hope across the nation. As a survivor it is my responsibility to make change and prevent this from happening in the future.”
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Webster
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(The Guardian) Still no comment yet from Donald Trump, who is in Florida, apparently at his golf club, today.

But deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters issued this statement: We applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their first amendment rights [right to free speech] today. Keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president’s, which is why he urged Congress to pass the Fix Nics and Stop School Violence Acts, and signed them into law.

Additionally, on Friday, the Department of Justice issued the rule to ban bump stocks following through on the president’s commitment to ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns.
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--This is Isabel, 16, and Evelyn, 11, from Chicago. They are urging all adults around them to pick up the phone and call their representatives. "People in my age group ... all we can do right now is march and urge adults to push for change". (Jessica Reed, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)

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--Soheir, 71, and John, her Republican-turned-Democrat husband (he is 72, and a Vietnam vet). John said: "[teens] should tell all adults that instead of them being on Facebook, adults should go and vote! And if you can't show up at your representative's door, you should call!” (Jessica Reed, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)
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(The Guardian) “On the way here, I’ve been meeting people from all over and thats what I’ve been telling you all along that it’s not just Parkland and Douglas— It is going to affect everyone, and here they are.” - Diana Haneski, Media specialist at MSD, told Parkland student correspondent Nikhita Nookala.

Suzanna Barna sends this view of the crowd from the roof terrace of the Newseum, the media museum in Washington.
-View: https://twitter.com/suzannaraye/status/977558567732568064
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--Parkland student David Hogg is giving interviews to the press. He is insisting on how crucial it is for young people to register to vote - “to hold politicians to account”. “We have a right to our lives and we’re going to fight for that”, he said. (Jessica Reed, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)
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(The Guardian) In response to the renewed attention to the movement to combat gun violence in the US, youth organizers in Chicago and Baltimore formed a new organization: Good Kids Mad City.

The group of 1,500 teenagers is working to bring attention to the violence faced every day in inner cities and the systemic issues that perpetuate this violence.

In Chicago this morning, members rallied outside a hospital where people injured or killed in shootings on the city’s west side are treated.
-View: https://twitter.com/VOYCEProject/status/977561299491139584
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(The Guardian) Parkland students Leni Steinhardt, Brianna Fisher and Zoe Gordon were interviewed on MSNBC by Joy Reed earlier.

“I want to be able to be the people’s voice who unfortunately aren’t able to be here, the ones that don’t get to voice their opinions about this issue because they suffered from it,” said Zoe. “So I really want to be their voice and their megaphone and call out for change.”

Leni said: “We were just in New York just last week, doing a panel there, and a couple of students were coming up to us and saying you’re inspiring to us, we’re looking up to you, we’re going to fight with you, and I just tell them, first of all thank you, but we’re just students who want to create change, and we hope that they march along with us today.”
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(The Guardian) Here are some early images (via Twitter) of the large crowds gathering in cities across the US – including snowy Indianapolis where the march is being held indoors.
-View: https://twitter.com/JimmyH8383/status/977564564408717313
-View: https://twitter.com/superlegitJoy/status/977569023553687553
-View: https://twitter.com/brittneyANjax/status/977567224381759489
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(The Guardian) In 1992, a 16-year-old Japanese exchange student was shot dead on his way to a Halloween party in Louisiana. Yoshi Hattori’s parents have been campaigners for stricter gun laws in the US ever since and on Saturday hosted a March for Our Lives rally in the Japanese city of Nagoya.

The Guardian’s Daniel Hurst reports from Tokyo: “I was moved by the high school students challenging the government on the gun control issues,” Mieko Hattori, Yoshi’s mother, told the Guardian. “I felt something was changing at the bottom. I hope adults who have common sense take actions with them for the US to be safer country. The future is for the young.”

Mieko Hattori and her husband Masaichi Hattori added in an emailed statement: “Adults should treasure the wish of young people for their peaceful future.”

After Yoshi’s death, his parents gathered about 1.7 million Japanese and 250,000 American signatures on a petition calling for action. President Bill Clinton met the Hattoris in November 1993, and their campaign helped to build momentum for the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which introduced background checks for people buying firearms.

The Hattoris still recall Yoshi’s fascination with US culture – and his hope that America might one day become his “second home”. His student exchange experience was meant to last for a year, but was cut short after just two and a half months.
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(The Guardian) (Guardian correspondent) Richard Luscombe reports from Parkland, Florida, where he has been closely following the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting since it took place a little over a month ago.

Max Schachter, father of one of the victims, Alex, a 14-year Stoneman Douglas marching band musician, addressed the crowd at the rally. Schacter broke down in tears as he recalled how his son enjoyed playing basketball with his older brother, and teaching his little sister “to become a better trombone player” and that on February 13 he was like any other parent, wanting his children to be happy and getting good grades.

Then the Valentine’s Day shooting happened. “Since the day that changed my life, I will not stop fighting for change,” he said. “The 17 beautiful angels would not stop fighting until make this world a better and safer place.”

Schachter has set up two foundations in his son’s memory, the Alex Schachter scholarship fund for the MSD marching band that his son loved. The second is the Safe Schools for Alex foundation.

“Alex’s death could have been prevented, all the lives could have,” he said.

Schachter said the MSD students’ campaign for gun reform had inspired him. “The beautiful lives lost have not and will not be in vain,” he said.
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(The Guardian) Our special correspondents, students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, have been interviewing marchers in Washington. “It means everything to be here,” Nicole Anderson told Lewis Mizen. “To not only fight for the lives lost but to fight for change. We are making history and I want to do everything in my power to be a part of it.”

“After the shooting, I was devastated like most of Douglas was,” MSD student Sarah Chadwick told Christy Ma. “I’m a type A kind of person though so I had to do something, otherwise it felt like I was letting people down.”

“This is a fight,” Ryan Deitsch, a senior at MSD, said. “It’s a long fight. It isn’t over yet. We can march all we want but until we march to their doorsteps, knock on the door, nothing will change.”

Nikhita Nookala has been speaking to US Congressman Ted Deutch. “Here’s the moment I’m really proud of,” he said.”Someone came up to me and asked: ‘Is your last name Deutch?’ and then: ‘Are you related to that Ryan kid?’”
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--16 year-olds Sophia Hiltz & Alanis Moulier came from Great Mills high in Maryland to remember their friend Jaelynn Willey who died yesterday after being shot on campus this week. “It can happen to anyone, anywhere. Something needs to be done.” #MarchForOurLives Oliver Laughland, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)

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--17 year-old Cassie Pearce got to DC on a 10 hour bus trip from Vermont. “I’m here because enough is enough. We have a right to be heard.” #MarchForOurLives (Oliver Laughland, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)
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--Teacher Charlie Posey from Maryland. She says the red pen is a time-honoured weapon. Next month her school will go through a “transition drill” - a drill for when kids are not “sitting nicely in a classroom”. “It’s a lot of responsibility,” she says. (Jessica Reed, The Guardian - 24 March 2018)
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(The Guardian) People have been rallying in the streets across the US, but the main March For Our Lives demonstration in Washington DC only just officially began. Andra Day and Common are performing on the main stage to kick-off the event.
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