(AP) — Tens of thousands of young people in U.S. communities big and small walked out of school to demand action on gun violence Wednesday in the biggest demonstration yet of the student activism that has emerged since the massacre in Florida.
Braving snow in New England and threats of school discipline in places like Georgia, they carried signs, chanted slogans against the National Rifle Association and bowed their heads in silent tribute to the 17 dead in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
“I don’t want my mother or my father having to worry about me going to school getting an education and then my life is gone,” said Leticia Carroll, a 15-year-old freshman who helped organize a walkout of more than 100 students at Groves High School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, outside of Detroit.
She added: “We need answers. We need something done.”
Across the country and beyond, students were urged to leave class at 10 a.m. local time for 17 minutes — one minute for each of the dead in Florida.
In Kalamazoo, nearly 1,600 Kalamazoo Central High School students peacefully walked out school Wednesday. Hundreds of Grand Rapids students also took part in the peaceful demonstration.
Max Poteat, a student who helped lead a walkout at North Carolina’s East Chapel Hill High School, said he was struck by the emotional weight of the moment.
“I think halfway through it really hit me, and I think everyone around, that these are teenagers just like us and that their lives were taken innocently — and that time is needed for change,” he said.
In Washington, more than 2,000 high-school age protesters observed the 17 minutes of silence by sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White House as a church bell tolled. President Donald Trump was in Los Angeles at the time.
The protesters carried signs with messages such as “Our Blood/Your Hands” and “Never Again” and chanted slogans against the NRA.