Written by Kimberly Woo and Mikayla Kaliski
In response to the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, students of the San Mateo Union High School District organized a sister march of San Francisco’s March For Our Lives event on March 24 to call for changes in gun legislation. At noon, attendees met at Beresford Park for speeches and activities, then traveled to Civic Center to join the larger event in San Francisco.
Primarily led by senior Karin Felsher and Hillsdale High School seniors Kyle Guanzon and Simona Nanda, the event attracted a large base of support.
“I was so amazed and overjoyed with how many people in our community attended the event,” Felsher said. “We got over 1,000 participants at the rally [at Beresford], and about 60 people followed us all the way to SF. Seeing this mass amount of people was so overwhelming and incredible. It gave me hope and made me realize how important this issue is to people and how willing and passionate our community is to take action.”
At Beresford Park, organizers and volunteers hosted several booths where attendees could register to vote, write letters to Congress and Parkland survivors, make posters and donate.
“We had [structured] letters written to Jackie Speier that a lot of people signed,” said Ellen Eggen, an adult who helped run the booth. “It’s important to write letters to Congressmen to let them know what ordinary people want them to vote for and what they want them to do. [Writing letters to the survivors is possibly] cathartic for the people who really feel for these kids and let them know that they have the sympathy from California all the way to Florida.”
The voter registration booth was another opportunity for attendees to transform their voice into action.
“Registering to vote allows you to choose the right people within your congressional district, within your community, within the state, and nationally,” said voter registration coordinator Nancy Calibjo. “If you don’t have the right legislator fighting for you, then nothing is going to change.”
In addition to the interactive booths, leaders from churches and Congress as well as students from other schools spoke about the importance of gun control and of student involvement in politics.
“As much as adults would like to relate and sympathize with us, we are the ones who attend school everyday and have to deal with the consequences of these senseless crimes,” Nanda said in her speech.
“The most important message I was trying to send through my speech was that our voices and votes count more than ever,” Nanda said in a later comment, “and that we need to get out there and vote on November 6th, 2018 for the future generations.”
During the rally, the sound system failed to operate, which caused a stage change to a different location in Beresford Park and delayed the rally for almost 20 minutes. Consequently, only 10 of the 16 expected speakers presented a speech, and the protesters missed the majority of San Francisco’s March For Our Lives event. Regardless, the group continued to march on their own.
“[During the San Francisco march,] all of a sudden, everyone kneeled on the floor and put their fists in the air,” said junior Alyce Thornhill, one of the head coordinators of the march. “There were a group of adults just in a circle around us, watching us. That was probably the most powerful moment for me because it really showed the adults are supporting us … as we were kneeling there, mourning the victims not just of Parkland, but of all the school shootings.”
Preparing for the march
To prepare for the rally, participants first thoroughly researched gun-related topics.
“We researched the politicians who have been getting the most money from the NRA,” Thornhill said. “We researched guns that are available, guns that have been used in mass shootings … We really needed to educate ourselves first before we made a statement because if we make an uneducated statement, that reflects poorly on all of the youth in America.”
During preparation, the leaders considered technical factors, such as awareness, collaboration and funding to ensure a peaceful meaningful march.
“There are a lot of things to plan out,” Guanzon said. “It’s not just the march itself but also taking into account the different factors involved in a march — the different booths, how do we get people for publicity, communications, getting permits for the park, talking to the police, making sure how our schools are involved with it.”
The organizers received a total of $9,500 in funds, including a $5,000 grant from the organization Everytown for Gun Safety, which donated money to 500 different March For Our Lives campaigns throughout the country. The rest was received from San Mateo residents who donated through the event’s GoFundMe and Eventbrite accounts, where the money was used to fund food and transportation.
At the community level, the organizers were confronted with personal challenges regarding their beliefs and expertise.
“At our schools, even though we live in somewhat of a bubble, there are a lot of opposing opinions,” said Burlingame High School senior Priya Koliwad, an organizer of the voter registration booth. “Advertising has been a little bit difficult in passing out flyers … We’ve had [posters] ripped in our faces … We have received hate messages and emails from adults who don’t even live in California.”
“A lot of adults have come up to me and told me, ‘You are just a child, why are you creating laws for our country? You have no experience in policymaking,’” said Mills High School junior Stephanie Wong. “To them, I say, ‘You’re right. I have no experience in policymaking … but I have … the common sense to question the current gun laws that we have in this country right now. I have the ability and power to change these things.”’
The march strived to communicate a message of action and change on the existing gun laws.
“[We want to] spread awareness and show that we care,” Guanzon said. “This is us demanding and advocating for a change in gun legislation since our politicians are not doing anything. This has been going on for years and years, and something needs to be done.”
To ensure further action after the event, the leaders at Mills, along with students from other schools, are organizing a bill for Congress regarding gun control.
“After this event, I, along with a few other friends and student organizers, are planning a petition and bill, specifically focusing in California,” Wong said. “What we are planning to do, since California has [pretty] safe gun laws, is we want to tackle the issue of ghost guns, the issue of online assembly kits, and the issue of background checks.”
The leaders will also be collaborating with more schools outside of the district for a broader range of support. According to Felsher, student organizers from the March For Our Lives event are currently collaborating with a group of UC Berkeley college students to organize a march to Sacramento on April 20.
