Students and staff unite in walkout plans

Article by Chloe Forsell, Chelsea Seifer, and Tupelo Sullivan After planning separate shows of support for the victims of the Parkland, Florida shootings, several groups of students came together in the Samo College Center last week to plan a single united response to the deaths of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to take place March 14 at 10:00 a.m.                                                                                                                       A projected series of Samo protests began with a walk-out at noon on Feb. 21. The event was planned by passionate Samo Spanish teacher Claudia Bautista, along with several of her students. They came together at the Michigan gate with signs and a petition for their peers to sign opposing the current gun control laws. One of the upperclassmen in the group, Melanie Porras (’19) spoke fervidly about the issue at hand. “I feel like everyone keeps talking about how it is our second amendment right to bear arms, but I think that we’ve lost that right as a nation because we’ve allowed guns to fall into the hands of those who clearly want to do harm to others. This is not acceptable,” Porras said. Porras is among several students who are refusing to accept frequent school shootings as a societal standard. As news of the Parkland shooting spread, students who survived the attack refused to be silenced. They took to social media to express their political outrage and to prove that everyone has a right to speak up and use their voice to make a difference. Samo students share the same angry passion; many clubs and groups are planning events to support the Parkland students by organizing a series of protests and actions that will help alert the community to the severity of the situation. Multiple clubs on campus aligned with Claudia Bautista and held a meeting Friday, Feb. 23 to discuss the school-wide walk out on they want to organize on March 14. Although the official meeting is  Tuesday Feb. 27 at 1 p.m., the group already confirmed that they want to coordinate more events after the walkout. March 14 will mark one month after the Parkland shooting and the event’s 17 minute duration symbolizes the 17 lives that were lost by the shooting. Leader of Samo’s Human Rights Watch Student Task Force Sophia Pei (’19) is certain that every event will make an impact due to the awareness it will bring to the issue.  “We’ve been talking to Dr. Shelton about having a school wide walkout period. They’re going to give us a 17 minute break on March 14. I think it will definitely show congressmen that this is a real problem and is something their future voting population cares about. It will tell them that this is what they need to do to change for a better future,” Pei said. As the stories highlighting American gun violence continue to surface in the news and online, students and adults alike are jumping on social media to share their passionate stances. Slogans like, “Protect Children, Not Guns” and “Now is the time” are flooding media platforms as Americans nationwide try to spread awareness.  People are working towards awareness in the hopes that they will get through to officials. Despite the overall public opinion, several lawmakers in the United States government favor protection of the second amendment [the right to bear arms], due to compensation from the The National Rifle Association (NRA). Students have been speaking out to get the attention of these politicians and persuade them to put these problems over their paychecks. In wake of current corruption between the NRA and politicians, Samo’s student government groups have been analyzing laws and legislature in the pursuit of finding suitable solutions for gun control. However, after witnessing multiple shootings without a legislative response, some students like Youth and Government member Will Sherman (’19) believe that any solution is better than no solution. “I was in Sacramento this past weekend for Youth and Government, and this issue was brought up. As far as gun legislation, for so long we’ve been waiting for a perfect solution. While we wait and wait, children die. It’s time to stop waiting and start acting. It’s time to actually get something done, regardless of those who view it as unconstitutional. At the end of the day, the risk is not money, it is the lives of children,” Sherman said. While many government leaders continue to attempt to suppress the voices of the protesting students, they will not be successful in silencing the Samo student body. Regardless of norms, students are choosing to put their safety above submissivity. “It’s something that I am more than willing to protest. I would miss four weeks of school, I would miss a semester of school if it meant that no more teenagers are being gunned down,” Sherman said.