Marchers chant, “enough is enough!” as they made their way to the Georgia State Capitol on March 24 for March For Our Lives in Atlanta. The student-led demonstration was one of several sibling marches held across the nation sparked after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The event kicked off at the Center for Civil and Human Rights at 11 a.m., drawing in students across Georgia to speak out against gun violence. An estimated 70,000 people came out in support, according to a press release by the Georgia Alliance for Social Justice.
Jake Zaslav, a survivor from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, attended the march with his brother Alec Zaslav to make their voices heard.
“We want our voices heard, we want change to happen, in any way no matter big or small. We want to take a part in so we just decided to both speak at this speech,” Zaslav said.
Kailen Kim, an organizer, and sophomore at Etowah High School, marched alongside Congressman John Lewis. Kim said she took part because gun violence impacts all.
“Students are looked down on just because we’re young or we’re too little to understand what goes on in politics,” Kim said. “But, seeing survivors like Emma González come out and stand up for what is right inspired us to do the same, because gun violence affects everyone.”
About 400 peace marshals like Zone Captain Denise Duplinski helped ensure the safety of those who took to the streets.
“Our duties as peace marshals [are] basically just to keep the parade moving along at a steady pace,” Duplinski said. “If there happens to be people that get into verbal disagreements with each other, [we will] sort of step in and de-escalate that situation and help people have a very good time here at the march and keep it safe for everyone.”
March For Our Lives is a proponent of voter registration ahead of the midterm elections this year. Erin Joyner, a volunteer for 9to5, an organization helping to gain justice for working women, stood on the sidelines to get citizens registered to vote.
“Today we’re taking this opportunity to take the energy of the March For Our Lives to promote voter registration, especially given the amount of youth who are represented here,” Joyner said.
Youth have also brought attention to politicians who received contributions from the National Rifle Association. Jaelyn Rosser, a student at Columbus State University, points out in her poster, the sum of contributions several have received.
“So [my poster] says, the only thing easier to buy than a gun is a Republican and I have like a pretty extensive list of all the Republicans who’ve received millions from the NRA,” Rosser said. “I think in total it’s in the hundreds of millions that politicians ever see from the NRA in order to pass laws that put us at a disadvantage and just are bad in general.”
Since the event, the National Rifle Association released a statement on Facebook against the march.
“Stand and Fight for our Kids’ Safety by Joining NRA,” the organization said followed by a donation link. “Today’s protests aren’t spontaneous. Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.”
Leslie Delgado, a student at Kennesaw State University, said she came out because of an encounter she had at a daycare.
“I work at a daycare and one of my kids came in, and he didn’t want to go to school because he was afraid that somebody bad would come onto campus and he’d have to run to the woods. And I don’t want him to feel that fear anymore.”
Going forward, March For Our Lives Atlanta plans to conduct outreach work and voter registration efforts for the upcoming elections.
Note: This story was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
