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Students plan walkout and rally

Students rally to prevent gun violence

Walkout set for Monday 9:50 a.m. with Seattle City Hall rally at 11:30 a.m.

Seattle students say they were terrified in the minutes and hours following the Ingraham High School shooting that left a 17-year-old dead and another teen, age 14, in custody on Tuesday. In response the Seattle Student Union (SSU) is calling on local high school students to rally to prevent gun violence following a morning class walkoutĀ  on Monday, November 14.Ā 

Students rally to prevent gun violence In a statement posted on Instagram, members of the SSU expressed frustration at the lack of meaningful gun violence prevention laws.

Too young to have a say

ā€œStudents are tired, scared and angry,ā€ the statement said. ā€œWe are old enough to get shot but too young to vote for laws that would stop our deaths.ā€

In their statement, the group called on lawmakers at the state and federal level to pass meaningful gun violence prevention legislation. The Ingraham shooting is, said students, ā€œanother tragic reminder of how as students, we risk our lives every day going to school.ā€

Powerful words

A parent of Garfield High School students applauded the statement from students: ā€œItā€™s powerful and theyā€™re the ones that have to endure the consequences of our failure to legislate any sort of meaningful gun control,ā€ the mother said.Ā 

The Instagram post had received more than 2,000 likes as of Thursday night.

Students rally to prevent gun violence

The student union is calling on Seattle students to walk out of class at 9:50 a.m. on Monday, November 14 and gather at Seattle City Hall for a ā€œGun Violence is Preventableā€ rally. The rally is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. On their Instagram feed, the group has provided walking and busing directions from every high school in Seattle to City Hall.

A call for action

During the rally the students are expected to lay out a list of demands. Students say they want:

  • Mental health counselors in every school that represent the diverse background of students. They are demanding one counselor for every 200 students.
  • Updated safe storage laws. They also want to see the Washington State law that prohibits cities from implementing gun laws stronger than the state law changed. Following the Ingraham shooting, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell called for the Washington State Legislature to lift the state law restricting what cities can do.
  • Increased security with increased training in de-escalation and anti-racism

Here is the full statement from the SSU, which launched earlier this year in order to ā€œcreate a revolutionary space for all students.ā€Ā 

Students Plan Walkout and Rally Against Gun Violence

More on Seattleā€™s Child:

ā€œGun violence: Have you reached your tipping point?

ā€œRISEing Up: A mother and grandmother talk about gun violenceā€

 

About the Author

Cheryl Murfin

Cheryl Murfin is managing editor at Seattle's Child. She is also a certified doula, lactation educator for NestingInstinctsSeattle.com and a certified AWA writing workshop facilitator at Compasswriters.com.