For the second time in less than two weeks, thousands of Madison area-students, teachers and residents — joined by prominent Democratic elected officials — packed the steps of the state Capitol to protest gun violence and call for stricter laws regarding firearms as part of the international March For Our Lives.
The protest was one of more than 800 “sister marches” organized in conjunction with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., following the Valentine’s Day shooting at their school.
Students and organizers holding signs that read “Am I next?” and “Not one more” gathered at Library Mall behind a large “March For Our Lives” banner before marching down State Street, where they were joined by hundreds of adults before reaching the capitol square.
Keeping with the student-lead movement, Madison’s march was organized by a pair of students, Stephanie Trask and Jack Larsen.
Trask — a junior at Memorial High School — lead off the speakers by mentioning the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999 and described how her entire school experience was impacted by the possibility of a mass shooting.
“When I am in class and the door is left open I sit in fear,” Trask said to the crowd. “This is the reality of growing up in a nation with an epidemic it chooses not to solve.”
Trask’s speech was followed by several adults, all of whom emphasized the role that students have played in organizing the movement and demanding change.
As she took the stage, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin asked the crowd to change its chant from “Tammy” to “Stephanie and Jack.”
Baldwin’s speech turned the attention towards elected officials and special interest groups like the National Rifle Association, which she said were responsible for the lack of “common sense” gun reforms that the student protesters have been calling for.
“America’s students have been incredible, but Congress has been downright depressing,” Baldwin said. “The reason for all of this inaction is straightforward ... special interests are spending big money to prevent change.”
U.S. Representative Mark Pocan also focused heavily on the role of the NRA in obstructing legislative change at the state and national levels, and cited a “need to change the narrative around the NRA” that he claimed would better represent the people of Wisconsin.
“The NRA isn’t the family in Wisconsin that goes out hunting,” Pocan said, while highlighting his “F” rating from the organization. “Their motive is greed and ours is survival.”
Several speakers focused on the disproportionate impact that gun violence has on communities of color in Dane County and across the country.
“Parkland might have awoken us to the violence, but our most marginalized students were born into it,” Mike Jones, a teacher from Blackhawk Middle School, said.
The rally’s final speaker was UW-Madison freshman Jack Larsen, who began with a story about how a pair of active shooter situations in his first year at UW-Madison had motivated him to get involved with the Madison chapter of Keep Guns Off Campus and take an active role in the gun control movement.
“I shouldn’t have to be afraid to walk to the corner store or go to my bank,” Larsen said. “We will be making sure that we hold our school officials responsible, our local politicians responsible.”
Larsen ended his speech with a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Parkland shooting, before he and Trask delivered a final message to the audience, urging them to stay involved with the movement.
“Today you march for my life and I am so grateful for that,” Trask said. “Next I need you to vote for my life.”
