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National School Walkout: Mass Student Protests Against Gun Violence Across the U.S. National School Walkout: Thousands Protest Against Gun Violence Across the U.S.
(about 3 hours later)
Thousands of students, emboldened by a growing protest movement over gun violence, stood up in their classrooms on Wednesday and walked out of their schools in a nationwide demonstration, one month after a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida. A month ago, hundreds of teenagers ran for their lives from the hallways and classrooms of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 students and staff had been shot to death.
The 17-minute protests unfolding at hundreds of schools are intended to pressure Congress to approve gun control legislation after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and come 10 days before major protests in Washington and elsewhere. On Wednesday, driven by the conviction that they should never have to run from guns again, they walked.
Here’s what to know: So did their peers. In New York City, in Chicago, in Atlanta and Santa Monica; at Columbine High School and in Newtown, Conn.; and in many more cities and towns, students left school by the hundreds and the thousands at 10 a.m., sometimes in defiance of school authorities, who seemed divided and even flummoxed about how to handle their emptying classrooms.
• The first large wave of students left their classrooms at 10 a.m. Eastern time. Across the country, others walked out at 10 a.m. in their local time zones. The first major coordinated action of the student-led movement for gun control marshaled the same elements that had defined it ever since the Parkland shooting: eloquent young voices, equipped with symbolism and social media savvy, riding a resolve as yet untouched by cynicism.
• The demonstrations were not limited to school property. In New York, students marched in the streets, while in Washington, sign-clutching students gathered outside the White House and on Capitol Hill. “We have grown up watching more tragedies occur and continuously asking: Why?” said Kaylee Tyner, a 16-year-old junior at Columbine High School outside Denver, where 13 people were killed in 1999, inaugurating, in the public consciousness, the era of school shootings. “Why does this keep happening?”
• School administrators grappled with how to respond. Some districts welcomed or even tacitly encouraged walkouts, while others threatened disciplinary action against students who participated. Even after a year of near continuous protesting — for women, for the environment, for immigrants and more — the emergence of people not even old enough to drive as a political force has been particularly arresting, unsettling a gun control debate that had seemed impervious to other factors.
• It is unlikely that officials in Washington will quickly heed the demands of the students. Although Florida last week raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 and extended the waiting period to three days, President Trump on Monday abandoned his pledge to seek national-level reforms that the National Rifle Association opposed. In Florida, where students from Stoneman Douglas High and other schools had rallied in the state capital, the governor signed a bill last week that raised the minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21 and extended the waiting period to three days.
• See some of our photographers’ work here. And follow our reporters on the ground on Twitter: Nick Madigan in Parkland, Fla.; Rick Rojas in Newtown, Conn.; Kate Taylor in New York; Mitch Smith in Chicago; Julie Turkewitz in Littleton, Colo.; Sean Keenan in Cobb County, Ga.; and Jenny Medina in Santa Monica, Calif. On a national level, the students have not had the same impact. This week, President Trump abandoned gun control proposals that the Republican-led Congress had never even inched toward supporting.
• Sign up for the Morning Briefing for news and a daily look at what you need to know to begin your day. But, for one day at least, the students commanded the country’s airwaves, Twitter feeds and Snapchat stories.
The demonstrations unfolded in different ways from city to city and school to school. In some places, demonstrators chanted and held signs. At other schools, students stood in silence. In Atlanta, some students took a knee. Principals and superintendents seemed disinclined to stop them. Some were outright supportive, though others warned that students would face disciplinary consequences for leaving school. At many schools, teachers and parents joined in.
Thousands of students around New York, many backed by permission slips from their parents, walked out of their schools and converged on central locations — Columbus Circle, Battery Park, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Lincoln Center. Wreathed in symbolism, the walkouts generally lasted for 17 minutes, one for each of the Parkland victims. Two more nationwide protests are set to take place on March 24 and on April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
On a soccer field burned yellow by the Colorado sun, Ms. Tyner stood alongside hundreds of her fellow students, who waved signs — “This is our future,” one said — and released red, white and blue balloons.
Yet in many places, for many students, Wednesday was just Wednesday, and class went on. Even at Columbine, the embrace of the gun control movement was not universal.
“People say it’s all about gun control, it’s all about, ‘We should ban guns,’” said Caleb Conrad, 16, a junior, who planned to stay in class. “But that’s not the real issue here. The real issue is the people who are doing it.”
In the one-school rural community of Potosi, Wis., no student group had organized a protest. After a handful of students expressed some interest, the school decided to hold an assembly at 10 a.m. to talk about school safety measures and the value of being kind to one another.
At 10 a.m., one student, a female freshman, left the building alone.
Throughout the assembly, she sat by herself outside, by a flagpole, for 17 minutes. She appeared to be praying, said the principal, Mike Uppena, adding that she was not in trouble for leaving.
Officials in Lafayette Parish, La., initially said that students could participate in the day’s events, believing that it was appropriate to honor the Florida victims. But when it became clear there was a political motive to the walkout, a torrent of complaints from the local community led the school board to adopt a new plan: a minute of silence.
Dozens of students walked out anyway.
In some places, demonstrators chanted and held signs. At other schools, students stood in silence. In Atlanta, some students took a knee.
Thousands of New York City students converged on central locations — Columbus Circle, Battery Park, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Lincoln Center.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, stretched out on the sidewalk as part of a “die-in” with students in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the former home of the Occupy Wall Street protests.Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, stretched out on the sidewalk as part of a “die-in” with students in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the former home of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
More than a thousand students walked out of the Martin Luther King Jr. campus, which has a number of schools on its premises, behind Lincoln Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Jaha Doyley, 17, said she feared for her own life, and that of her 9-year-old sister. “It wasn’t a hard decision,” Jaha said. “I’m really scared and worried.” Hundreds sat in the middle of West 62nd Street for several minutes before rising to their feet and shouting, “No more violence.” A cry of “Trump Tower!” sent dozens of protesters marching toward the Trump International Hotel and Tower across Broadway. Onlookers gave them fist-bumps.
Hundreds of students sat in the middle of West 62nd street for several minutes before the crowd rose to their feet and shouted, “No more violence.” A cry of “Trump Tower!” sent dozens of protesters marching toward the Trump International Hotel and Tower across Broadway. Onlookers gave them fist-bumps.
In Washington, thousands left their classrooms in the city and its suburbs and marched to the Capitol steps, their high-pitched voices battling against the stiff wind: “Hey-hey, ho-ho, the N.R.A. has got to go!” One sign said: “Fix This, Before I Text My Mom from Under A Desk.”In Washington, thousands left their classrooms in the city and its suburbs and marched to the Capitol steps, their high-pitched voices battling against the stiff wind: “Hey-hey, ho-ho, the N.R.A. has got to go!” One sign said: “Fix This, Before I Text My Mom from Under A Desk.”
Members of Congress, overwhelmingly Democratic, emerged from the Capitol to meet them. Trailed by aides and cameras, some legislators high-fived the children in the front rows, others took selfies, and nearly all soon learned that the young protesters had no idea who they were.Members of Congress, overwhelmingly Democratic, emerged from the Capitol to meet them. Trailed by aides and cameras, some legislators high-fived the children in the front rows, others took selfies, and nearly all soon learned that the young protesters had no idea who they were.
Except, of course, for “BERNIE SANDERS!” which the protesters screamed at the Vermont senator, as well at some other white-haired, bespectacled legislators.Except, of course, for “BERNIE SANDERS!” which the protesters screamed at the Vermont senator, as well at some other white-haired, bespectacled legislators.
Asked by reporters about the walkouts, Raj Shah, Mr. Trump’s deputy press secretary, said the president “shares the students’ concerns about school safety” and cited his support for mental health and background check improvements.Asked by reporters about the walkouts, Raj Shah, Mr. Trump’s deputy press secretary, said the president “shares the students’ concerns about school safety” and cited his support for mental health and background check improvements.
As the hours passed, the walkouts moved west across the country.As the hours passed, the walkouts moved west across the country.
“It’s 10 o’clock,” said a man on the intercom at Perspectives Charter Schools on Chicago’s South Side. With that, hundreds of students streamed out of their classrooms and into the neighborhood, marching past modest brick homes, a Walgreens and multiple churches. Police officers helped block traffic. “It’s 10 o’clock,” said a man on the intercom at Perspectives Charter Schools on Chicago’s South Side. With that, hundreds of students streamed out of their classrooms and into the neighborhood, marching past modest brick homes, a Walgreens and multiple churches.
Several current and former Perspectives students have been killed in recent years, the school president said.Several current and former Perspectives students have been killed in recent years, the school president said.
“You see different types of violence going on,” said Armaria Broyles, a junior whose older brother was killed in a shooting and who helped lead the walkout. “We all want a good community and we all want to make a change.” “You see different types of violence going on,” said Armaria Broyles, a junior who helped lead the walkout and whose older brother was killed in a shooting. “We all want a good community and we all want to make a change.”
At Santa Monica High School in Southern California, hundreds of students were guided by teachers to the football field. It felt like a cross between a political rally and pep rally, with dozens of students wearing orange T-shirts, the color of the gun control movement, and #neveragain scrawled onto their arms in black eyeliner. At Santa Monica High School in Southern California, teachers guided hundreds of students to the football field. It felt like a cross between a political rally and pep rally, with dozens of students wearing orange T-shirts, the color of the gun control movement, and #neveragain scrawled onto their arms in black eyeliner.
“It is our duty to win,” Roger Gawne, a freshman and one of the protest organizers, yelled to the crowd.“It is our duty to win,” Roger Gawne, a freshman and one of the protest organizers, yelled to the crowd.
Not all students were supportive. Just after the organizers read the names of the Parkland victims, another student went on stage, forcibly grabbed the microphone and shouted “Support the Second Amendment!” before he was called off by administrators. Although the walkouts commanded attention on cable television and social media for much of Wednesday, it also was clear that many students did not participate, especially in rural and conservative areas where gun control is not popular.
At Bartlesville High School in Bartlesville, Okla., where hundreds of students walked out of class last month to protest cuts in state education funding, nothing at all happened at 10 a.m.
“I haven’t heard a word about it,” the principal, LaDonna Chancellor, said of the gun protest.
In Iowa, Russell Reiter, superintendent of the Oskaloosa Community School District, suggested that temperatures below 40 degrees may have encouraged students to stay indoors, but he also said that “students here are just not interested in what is going on in bigger cities.”
There was opposition even in liberal Santa Monica. Just after the organizers of the walkout there read the names of the Parkland victims, another student went on stage, grabbed the microphone and shouted “Support the Second Amendment!” before he was called off by administrators.
Some of the day’s most poignant demonstrations happened at schools whose names are now synonymous with shootings.Some of the day’s most poignant demonstrations happened at schools whose names are now synonymous with shootings.
Watched by a phalanx of reporters, camera operators and supporters, hundreds of students crowded onto the football field at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shortly after 10 a.m. Watched by a phalanx of reporters, camera operators and supporters, hundreds of students crowded onto the football field at Stoneman Douglas High shortly after 10 a.m.
“We’re with you,” a woman shouted from the sidewalk. Others took up the chant. A month after the Feb. 14 shooting, notes of condolence, fading flowers and stuffed toys, damp from recent rain, still lay on the grass outside the school and affixed to metal fences.
The event was suffused with sadness, given that the school was the site of the Feb. 14 shooting that has galvanized the new movement for gun restrictions. Notes of condolence, fading flowers and stuffed toys, damp from recent rain, still lie on the grass outside the school and affixed to metal fences. The walkout was allowed by the school, but several students said they were warned that they would not be permitted back onto the campus for the day if they left school grounds. Despite the warning, a couple of hundred students marched to a nearby park for another demonstration.
The walkout was allowed by the school, but several students said they were warned that they would not be permitted back onto the campus for the day if they left school grounds. Despite the warning, a couple of hundred students marched to nearby Pine Trails Park, where they held another demonstration. “We need more than just 17 minutes,” Nicolle Montgomerie, 17, a junior, said as she walked toward the park.
“It’s kind of unfair for us to have to go to school today, a month after this happened,” Nicolle Montgomerie, 17, a junior, said as she walked toward the park. “We need more than just 17 minutes.” An email from the school soon went out telling students they could return.
An email from the school soon went out telling students they would indeed be allowed to return. In Newtown, Conn., where 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, hundreds of students at Newtown High School gathered in a parking lot near the football field. Two hours later, it was Columbine’s turn.
In Newtown, Conn., where 26 people were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, hundreds of students filed out of Newtown High School moments before 10 a.m. and gathered in a parking lot near the football field.
At Columbine High School near Denver, site of the 1999 killing of 13 people that seemed to signify the beginning of a generation of school attacks, hundreds clustered on a soccer field burned yellow by the Colorado sun.
They waved signs — “this is our future” — and released a bouquet of balloons in red, white and blue. Afterward, a 16-year-old junior, Kaylee Tyner, stood at the edge of the field next to Frank DeAngelis, who was the principal when the attack occurred.
“We have grown up watching more tragedies occur and continuously asking: Why?” she said. “Why does this keep happening?”
The walkouts drew a range of reactions from gun rights advocates.
Shortly after the walkouts began, the National Rifle Association said on Twitter, “Let’s work together to secure our schools and stop school violence.”Shortly after the walkouts began, the National Rifle Association said on Twitter, “Let’s work together to secure our schools and stop school violence.”
But the next tweet left no doubt as to where the N.R.A. stood on the message of the protests. But the next tweet left no doubt as to where the N.R.A. stood on the message of the protests. It said, “I’ll control my own guns, thank you. #2A #NRA” atop a photo of an AR-15, the kind of high-powered rifle used at Stoneman Douglas High and in other mass shootings.
The Gun Owners of America, a smaller organization often seen as more militant than the N.R.A., was more defiant.The Gun Owners of America, a smaller organization often seen as more militant than the N.R.A., was more defiant.
The group, which calls itself “the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington,” urged its supporters to call their elected officials to oppose gun control measures like Fix NICS, which is intended to improve reporting by state and federal agencies to the criminal background check system. “We could win or lose the gun control battle in the next 96 hours,” the group said on Twitter. The group urged its supporters to call their elected officials to oppose gun control measures like Fix NICS, which is intended to improve reporting by state and federal agencies to the criminal background check system. “We could win or lose the gun control battle in the next 96 hours,” the group said on Twitter.
The group also celebrated students who sat out the walkout. The group also celebrated “the pro-gun students who are not supporting their anti-gun counterparts.”
Some schools accommodated or even encouraged the protests. But others warned that they would discipline students who participated by marking them as absent or even suspending them. Some schools accommodated or even encouraged the protests. But others warned that they would mark students who left as absent, or even suspend them.
“We cannot condone students leaving classes during the instructional day to participate in this activity,” said Barbara P. Canavan, the schools superintendent in Harford County, Md., who said that the protest “presents, paradoxically, a threat to student safety, as word of the walkout has been widely disseminated and students who go outside could become more vulnerable.” In Cobb County, Ga., near Atlanta, the threat of punishment did not keep scores of Walton High School students from standing in silence on the football field for 170 seconds. A school district spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on what would happen to the students.
Instead, Ms. Canavan said, her district would offer “a learning module that will provide students with an opportunity to share their feelings about recent events across the nation and will allow them to speak about solutions in a structured way.”
Still, students openly defied school districts that had warned them not to participate. In Cobb County, Ga., near Atlanta, the threat of punishment did not keep scores of Walton High School students from standing in silence on the football field for 170 seconds, honoring the 17 victims in Parkland.
Some students said that school officials backed away from the threat of punishment after the protests concluded.
A school district spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. But in a previous statement, the district said it did “not support or endorse walkouts/protests that cause interruption to normal school operations,” and it warned that students “may be subject to consequences.”
Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for policy and advocacy for AASA, the association of the nation’s superintendents, said that schools had to balance the First Amendment rights of students with their other responsibilities, including safety.Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director for policy and advocacy for AASA, the association of the nation’s superintendents, said that schools had to balance the First Amendment rights of students with their other responsibilities, including safety.
Indeed, several demonstrations had to be canceled because of threats of the same kind of violence the students were demonstrating against. Indeed, several protests were canceled because of threats of the same kind of violence the students were demonstrating against. A demonstration at Broughton High School in Raleigh, N.C., was called off when the principal learned of what she later described as “a false rumor of a threat and a post on social media that caused unnecessary fear among our school community.”
A demonstration at Broughton Magnet High School in Raleigh, N.C., was abruptly canceled when the principal learned of what she later described as “a false rumor of a threat and a post on social media that caused unnecessary fear among our school community.” And in California, a handful of schools ordered lockdowns after receiving threats, disrupting plans for walkouts in some communities.
While many schools cited safety as a reason to discourage protests, politics plainly intruded in some regions.
Officials in Lafayette Parish, La., initially said that students could participate in the walkout, believing that it would honor the Florida victims, but when it became clear there was a political undercurrent, a wave of outrage from the public led the school board to adopt a new plan: a minute of silence.
Jeremy Hidalgo, the school board’s vice president, said that parents were frustrated by plans to use 17 minutes of class time for anything beyond the traditional curriculum and that they “were just disgusted and disappointed that we were going to participate in a national walkout that was geared around gun control.”
Dozens of students walked out anyway.
The walkout was well covered on Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.
The hashtag #NationalWalkoutDay is trending globally on Twitter. “School walkout” is Google’s No. 1 trending term in the United States.
Parkland students, many of whom garnered large followings as they founded the #NeverAgain movement, tweeted support of their fellow students across the country.
The Snap Map, a map that allows Snapchat users to share a photo or video from their current location, is filled with footage from walkouts. Usually, the Snap map is a mix of concerts, sporting events, and occasionally breaking news.
Students were savvy about traditional media as well. A reporter at The Guardian was handed a “press packet” by an 11-year-old student.
Although walkouts commanded attention on cable television and social media for much of Wednesday, it also was clear that many students did not participate, especially in rural and conservative areas where gun control is not popular.
At Bartlesville High School in Bartlesville, Okla., where hundreds of students walked out of class last month to protest cuts in state education funding, nothing at all happened at 10 a.m.
“I haven’t heard a word about it,” the principal, LaDonna Chancellor, said of the gun protest.
Chloe Maye, a senior and leader of the February school funding walkout, said the community was more concerned about teacher pay, which by some measures is the lowest in the nation. Teachers across the state have threatened to strike on April 2 if the legislature does not act.
“We’ve been trying to fix this other issue, which for us is vitally important,” she said.
In Iowa, Russell Reiter, superintendent of the Oskaloosa Community School District, suggested that temperatures below 40 degrees may have encouraged students to stay indoors, but he also said that “students here are just not interested in what is going on in bigger cities.”
In the rural community of Potosi, Wis., interest in the protest was low, but several students had approached the district administrator, Ronald Saari, saying that they were interested in walking out. Mr. Saari and Mike Uppena, a principal, said that they were concerned about the safety of students if they were allowed outside all at once. They decided instead to hold an assembly at 10 a.m. for the middle school and high school students.
At 10 a.m., one student — a female freshman — left the building alone. During the assembly, she sat on the building grounds by a flagpole for 17 minutes. She appeared to be praying, Mr. Uppena said.