By Lauren Azrin
When I heard about the March of Our Lives on March 24th, I was instantly eager to attend. I have always been passionate about gun control and activism, but I have never really had the chance to use my voice in such a powerful way. After begging my mom to go to D.C., and realizing that it wasn’t a realistic idea, I settled for marching in New York City. As the weeks led up to the march, it became something that I could smile about and look forward to, no matter what stresses school threw at me. I couldn’t wait for my voice to be heard with thousands of others sharing the same dream for our generation’s future as me.
I wanted my sign to stand out and express how I truly feel, without holding anything back. After much thinking and research, I went with, “Hey NRA, how many kids have you killed today?” (During the march, a few friendly strangers pointed out to me that this same saying was said about LBJ during the Vietnam War, which is an interesting parallel to times today). My friend went with, “my backpack shouldn’t have to be bulletproof.” We wanted people to look at our signs and immediately see our anger and fear, which I think our signs ultimately accomplished. (I got many compliments, and don’t forget photo requests, during the march!)
Before we even arrived to the streets that were anywhere close to where the march was taking place, we could already see how massive of a turnout It was. The streets were packed with people of all ages, holding signs, wearing T-shirts, and handing out stickers. There were so many people that by the time me and my friend got there, which was actually pretty early, we were so far from the main stage of the ceremony that the only way to see it was through a TV screen that they projected the presentations and
speeches onto.
As we waited to for the speeches and presenters, a black car pulled up, causing a slight commotion as people started to take pictures. After some inquiring and investigating, we found out it was Christie Brinkley, star of the “Vacation” movies (among other things), and we knew we had to get closer to the scene. We pushed our way through the crowd, until we were literally right behind her in her “No Guns” hat, as well as her entourage. They seemed friendly, so we introduced ourselves. When asked why she was marching, Brinkley told The Orange, “I’m here marching because the students have started something big, and I want to support them in every which way I can. As Obama said, they’re who we’ve been waiting for, and I really truly believe that they can and will make the positive change that we need so desperately, and I believe that every child should feel safe and secure in school, and only getting rid of assault weapons and bump stocks can we do that. We have to make it really hard for people to get their hands on guns of any kind. We need to get rid of the weapons of choice for mass murders, which are these assault style weapons.” I couldn’t agree more.