As thousands of students across the country walked out of their schools on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, about 400 St. Louis high school students from around the region gathered in front of Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office at noon to rally against gun violence.
“We will not rest until not one more person, not one more student, not one more child has to live with the effects of gun violence,” said Peyton Kidkuk, a member of Students Demand Action STL. “We demand change.”
They chose Hawley’s office for the target of the protest because he accepts campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association, they said. Across the country, the March for Our Lives movement – started by the Parkland, Florida students – is targeting politicians running for office who support the NRA’s agenda to loosen gun laws. The St. Louis students vowed to vote out any politician who accepts campaign contributions from the NRA, chanting, “Vote them out.”
Hawley is trying to unseat U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill in the November general election. Hawley’s office did not respond to the American’s request for comment.
The students had just begun speeches when an older white man stormed through the crowd, yelling obscenities and telling them to leave.
The man then aggressively rushed at Sunny Lu, a sophomore at Ladue Horton Watkins High School and an organizer with Students Demand Action STL. Lu stood face to face with the man and told him they had a First Amendment right to be there. A guard nearby escorted the man away within seconds.
“I was in a state of complete shock,” Lu said. “My fear came afterwards. We heard rumors of counter protestors and if he was the only one, then that’s good.”
The man continued to yell things from across the street, including that the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 never happened.
But despite the early disturbance, the students carried on, reminding each other to “remain respectful.” They marched around the building at 815 Olive St. in downtown St. Louis, chanting loud enough for people within several blocks to hear. Some said it sounded as loud as a baseball game.
Alayna Jenkins, a junior at Orchard Farm High School, gave a speech about what it means to say “one nation” when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
“No matter Democrat or Republican, we are one nation and our one nation’s children are dying,” Jenkins said. “We are also one nation that allows children to go to school and risk their lives. We will not stand for it.”
Tom Bergan, the St. Louis team leader for voter registration group HeadCount, was on site to get students registered – a strong focus of the national movement. He said they registered 20 students today. During the March for Our Lives events on March 24, Bergan said the group registered 5,000 throughout the country.
The students also held a die-in, where they held 13 minutes of silence to remember students who have been killed in school shootings. The rally also emphasized ending gun violence as a whole, not just school shootings.
Afua Owusu-Agyeman, a Hazelwood West High senior, read two poems on guns and discrimination in the black community.
“You wonder why little black boys want a gun,” she read. “They’ve made the mistake of wearing a hood, ignoring what his mom said to do. They don’t feel protected enough by the people who tell them to sit down and shut up. In the land of the free, being treated like their still in chains.
You wonder why little black boys want a gun.”
Zoë Rosenberg, one of the main event organizers and a Parkway Central High senior, wrote a speech about white privilege. It was read by Izzy Essman, a senior at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School.
“When I wear a pink hat, I’ve created a revolution,” Essman read. “When my fist is up, I am revolutionary. When my sisters of color take to the streets, they are ‘starting a riot.’ When they speak, they’re just angry black women.”
Rosenberg stated that black people are disproportionately affected by gun violence and have to fear for their lives and safety in almost every setting. To white women, she said, “You have a duty to use your privilege for good. You must use it to amplify our sisters of color.”
East St. Louis students on gun violence
Some students in the East St. Louis School District spent yesterday and today focusing their lessons on data and issues around gun violence. Many of the students spoke about their own experiences losing loved ones. Devon Mosely, a seventh grader at Mason/Clark Middle School, had a cousin in the Columbine school shooting.
“For my poster, I said ‘Gun Violence Needs to Stop,’” he said. “I don’t understand why, when people get upset, they shoot. I feel horrible for people that lose family to gun violence.”
Richard Lowe, social science teacher at Mason/Clark said the lessons fit into the curriculum work on the constitution, examining the First and Second Amendment rights.
“Our seventh graders began to understand their rights, including their right to have their voices heard, even though they are minors,” Lowe said. “It is shocking how many students are impacted by gun violence, not just in schools but in communities.”
