Months ago I decided that I wanted to visit a friend of mine in San Francisco during Spring Break. As we began planning, we realized that the weekend at the end of my spring break would be the best time for both of us. I bought my flight out on Mar. 23 and my flight back on Mar. 27 before I realized what was going on that weekend. The March for Our Lives was on Mar. 24, and I was going to be in a major city.
My friend, Nora Lelivelt (left) (freshman at UC Davis) and I, sophmore Skyler Kane (right) holding the posters we made for the March for Our Lives protest.Photo courtesy of Skyler Kane.
I told my friend that we HAD to go. I even came up with a poster idea and decided we had to do the whole nine yards, too. She agreed and put it on our “itinerary” of things to do while I was there. Now, I’ve never been to a large protest. I’ve either been busy or not been near enough to a major protest. The only one I’ve been to was in seventh grade in Wisconsin when we were trying to recall Governor Walker (clearly it did not end in our favor).
The protest started with a rally at the city hall; photo by Skyler Kane.
The March for Our Lives started with the rally which lasted a couple of hours. They had so many speakers, from Stoneman Douglas alumni to Columbine survivors to gun violence victims to leaders of organizations determined to end gun violence. There was even a middle schooler who spoke. It was incredible, the passion they had. The energy in the crowd was so positive and supportive.
Top: The rally turns away from the city hall to begin the march. Bottom:The rally starts to walk. Photos by Skyler Kane.
The march started at the city hall and ended about two miles later at the Ferry building. Chants popped up, as they do, but they often died quickly. I overheard some women talking about how this was a rather calm protest, compared to ones like the Women’s March. Everything remained peaceful, despite the large crowd. While there was no official head count for the San Francisco march, it is assumed that there were tens of thousands of protesters. Below are some of my favorite photos and posters from the march.
In the children’s play area, a young boy holds a sign that reads “I’ll be voting in 6 years.
A young woman holds a sign reading “You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it out. Photos by Skyler Kane.
A very young boy on his father’s shoulder holds a sign he clearly made, depicting on stick figure shooting another stick figure, with the whole drawing being X-ed out.
A young man holds a poster with a picture of Paul Ryan flexing, asking “Is it possible Paul Ryan is confused about which guns we’re talking about?
A woman holds up a sign reading “I’m a teacher. Only thing I want to pack is a lunch. Photos by Skyler Kane.
Not only did I enjoy my time marching, but it really felt like I was a part of something huge. My respect for the Stoneman Douglas survivors is astronomical. As a college student, I still vividly remember high school and active shooter drills. As a young adult, I remember last summer a police officer coming into a staff meeting at the summer pool I worked at and having him tell us how great of a place the city pool would be to shoot up. I am still terrified of random gun violence. Not only that, I come from a family of teachers. Not only should they not be required to carry a gun, but they shouldn’t be at risk in a school any more than the children should be. I don’t know exactly how much I can do in this fight, but on Mar. 24 it felt like I did something.