On March 14, set into motion by the brave survivors of the massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, high schoolers across the country walked out of their classrooms to demand change in how we view guns and school shootings in the United States. On April 20 at 10 a.m., students did it again, reports CNN.
As Reuters notes, this second walk out — once again created to put the pressure on lawmakers for stricter gun laws in the United States — falls on the 19th anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School that left 13 students dead and more than 20 injured in Colorado in 1999. Organizers told Reuters prior to the protest that participants from “more than 2,6000 schools and institutions” were planning to participate.
19 years ago today, these 13 people were killed at #Columbine High School in Colorado.
Whether you are participating in the #NationalSchoolWalkout, or #DayOfService, remember these faces.
This is why we fight. 19 years later, and this still happens. pic.twitter.com/qfkp6av9Hd
— Sofie Whitney (@sofiewhitney) April 20, 2018
Lane Murdock, 16, is a sophomore at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut and she’s the driving force behind this second walkout —that will be the biggest one since March 14. She loves Benny Goodman and The Beatles, and she is driven to see that future students don’t end up memorizing the announcement for an active shooter drill like she has.
The movement to walk out on April 20 has grown immensely, but it didn’t start that way. Lane said, “I thought, originally, it would just be my school but, obviously, it’s grown.”
Students, at 10 a.m. their local time, walked out of their classrooms to stand in solidarity and remembrance of the victims of mass school shootings and to demand legislative reform to help bring an end to gun violence.
Goodnight everyone. Tomorrow we all make history with #NationalSchoolWalkout.
Get some rest and if you wish to donate to support the movement do so here: https://t.co/W7y9jXy4mf pic.twitter.com/WWInfNQdqd— Lane Murdock (@lanemurdock2002) April 20, 2018
As CNN previously reported, many of them will be wearing orange — which the organization Wear Orange, started in 2013, explains is because that’s the color hunters wear to identify themselves in the woods for other hunters so they don’t accidentally get shot. The group says also of the color choice that, “Orange is a bright, bold color that demands to be seen. Orange expresses our collective hope as a nation — a hope for a future free from gun violence.”
Lane explains why students walk out in order to make political and social impact. “If you can’t vote,” she says, “you don’t have a lot of concrete power. As a student, what do you have? What you have is your attendance in school…and there’s power to that.”
This isn’t a conservative or liberal issue, in her opinion. She believes “It’s about making sure children don’t get harmed in school and we don’t live in a country that has institutionalized fear.”