Above photo: High school students from all over Pinellas County led the St. Petersburg March for Our Lives on Saturday as part of the We the Students nonprofit organization. Emily Wunderlich | The Crow’s Nest
By Emily Wunderlich
Parkland is just 250 miles away from downtown St. Petersburg, where 1,500 people flooded the streets Saturday in the March for Our Lives protest.
Pinellas County joined over 800 cities across the country advocating for gun reform in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that left 17 students and faculty dead Feb. 14.
According to CNN, Parkland was the eighth school shooting in 2018, and nine more have taken place since – averaging one every 10 days.
The march kicked off with an hour of speeches from impassioned students and sympathetic politicians like U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, State Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman.
Kriseman was met with boos from the crowd when he explained that he cannot “enact any policy, rule, regulation or executive order in any way regulating guns” because he could be removed from office, fined and civilly sued.
“You’re not just marching – you all are leading,” Kriseman said to the crowd. “You all are leading because the so-called ‘grown ups’ in Tallahassee and Washington either don’t know how to lead, or simply refuse to lead.”
A row of 17 white chairs stood in Poynter Park, each with an orange balloon and a red flower to commemorate the lives lost in the Parkland shooting.
Coincidentally, an orange helicopter flew overhead as protesters united during the song “Shine,” which was written and produced by Parkland survivors.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the color orange became associated with protests against gun violence after the shooting death of Hadiya Pendleton in 2013. Pendleton’s friends chose the color because hunters wear it to draw attention to themselves to stop fellow hunters from mistakenly shooting them.
Signs reading “Books not bullets,” and “Make school safe again,” called for elected officials to denounce the National Rifle Association and ban guns from schools.
Car horns honked in unison with protesters as they marched down Second Street chanting, “This is what democracy looks like.”
The protest was organized by We the Students, a non-profit organization consisting of high school students across the county.
Madison Vogel, a junior at Osceola Fundamental High School, served as the logistics chair for the event. Her duties included coordinating the speakers, portable toilets and tables and chairs.
“I would like to attend Florida State University, but … I can’t really make plans for the future because it’s not promised,” Vogel said.
Vogel originally planned to major in international business and minor in logistics, but her involvement in We the Students inspired her to consider a career in political science.
Student body president David Thompson’s message to students was clear: vote.
“Generation Z are activists,” Thompson said. “We have seen injustice around us and we recognize that it is unacceptable. Never again should gun violence keep us from getting an education, watching a movie or going to work. We’re going to speak out and keep speaking out until we see a change.”
“While we know that our voices matter, our votes matter even more,” Thompson said.
With 96 graduates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School currently enrolled at USF St. Petersburg, senator Tiffany Porcelli drafted a resolution in support of the survivors.
Riley Walker, a coordinator of the event, urged the crowd to speak out against gun violence, even if it meant being scoffed at by family and friends.
“Because we are the lucky ones, we cannot become complacent,” he said. “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”
Among the protesters was Sandra Weeks, 64, — a fifth-generation activist. Her grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother all marched for women’s suffrage in Salem, Ohio in the 1920s.
The March for Our Lives hits especially close to home for Weeks. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, she treats people who have been trafficked, abused and suffered through violence.
“I just can’t wake up another day and see the shootings on the news. I’m done, and I’m done with this country being run by fascists,” Weeks said.
Jared Hampton, another event coordinator, stressed that the preservation of life should not be a partisan issue.
“It is neither blue nor red — it is life or death,” he said.
Information from the Tampa Bay Times and the New York Times was used in this report.
Read Porcelli’s full resolution below:
Resolution S18-003: “We Stand With Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School”
Be it resolved by the Senate of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Student Government assembled,
Whereas: According to the National Safety Council, one (1) in three hundred and seventy (370) people are killed due to the assault of a firearm and;
Whereas: According to the Gun Violence Archive, there has been twenty four (24) mass shootings since January 1st, 2018 causing fifty one (51) deaths and one hundred and six (106) injuries and;
Whereas: On February 14th, 2018 seventeen (17) people were killed and fifteen (15) injured during a horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and;
Whereas: The seventeen (17) deaths and fifteen (15) injuries to students, faculty, and staff of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has caused immense grief, pain and distress among students, faculty, staff, family, and the community and;
Whereas: The University of South Florida System has a close relationship with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as ninety six (96) graduates from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High enrolled for the Spring 2018 semester in the USF System and;
Whereas: The University of South Florida St. Petersburg stands behind and supports the entire population whether it be the Broward community, the families and friends of victims, graduates, current students, staff and faculty of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and all of those who are affected by this appalling tragedy so;
Therefore, be it resolved by the Senate of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Student Government assembled, that on behalf of the student body, we stand united in this horrific time of grieving and tragedy and stand up against gun violence in the United States of America.
This article was updated at 4:50 p.m. on March 29, 2018. A previous version stated that the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 students dead Feb. 14. However, the shooting actually left 17 students and faculty dead.
