Students Plan Walkout on Anniversary of Columbine

From ELLE

It's been 19 years since 12 students and one teacher were killed in a school shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. The infamous event sparked conversations about gun laws and school safety-conversations that have continued all the way into 2018.

This year, to mark the anniversary and protest for stricter gun control, students across the country walked out of their classes, calling it the #NationalSchoolWalkout. More than 2,000 walkouts were scheduled through the country with at least one in every state, according to ABC News. Many wore orange, to represent gun violence awareness, and there were 13 seconds of silence to represent the victims from Columbine. Unlike the national school walkout in March, this one is planned to go all day.

David Hogg, an organizer for March for Our Lives, also tweeted that after the walkout, students should register to vote at headcount.org. Its website says HeadCount is a "non-partisan website that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy."

Hogg is one of the students from Parkland, Florida, who's been dominating the news cycle since a school shooting at their own Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School this past February. According to USA Today, the night before the walkout, almost 100 survivors from Parkland went to a rally in Colorado to protest for stronger gun control legislation.

Lois Beckett, a reporter for the Guardian, tweeted that Paula Reed, a Columbine teacher, spoke at the rally about the recent suggestion that teachers should be armed. Reed said that she taught one of the Columbine shooters when he was a sophomore. "When we talk about arming teachers, you’re not just asking me to protect the Rachels of the world, you’re asking me to kill the Dylans," she said. "Do you understand what you’re asking of me? You’re asking me to kill one of my students. It’s too much to ask."

Students at Columbine High School didn't have school on Friday and instead were encouraged to participate in "A Day of Service." A letter from the principal said, "The month of April has long been a time to respectfully remember our loss, and also support efforts to make our communities a better place. Please consider planning service projects, an activity that will somehow build up your school...as opposed to a walkout."

On Thursday, TIME Magazine released its annual list of the 100 most influential people, including a group of students from Parkland who've been consistently vocal about the need for gun reform. Barack Obama wrote their acknowledgement, saying, "Our kids now show us what we’ve told them America is all about, even if we haven’t always believed it ourselves: that our future isn’t written for us, but by us."

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