On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, at 10AM, most of my middle school participated in the student walkout to honor the 17 kids that died in the Marjory Stoneman-Douglas high school shooting. When the clock struck 10AM, almost everyone in my math class stood up, but I hesitated to go. I was really nervous about what my math teacher was going to say. At the beginning of class, we asked about the walkout and she said, “No! We have math to do.” She has also been known for giving out detention for something as minor as tossing a grape. After the first few brave classmates stood up form their desks and walked out, I followed. My math teacher, Mrs. Ambrose, let out a huge sigh as we left. During the 17 minutes of silence, there was no fooling around inside or outside the church among the 50 or 60 middle schoolers. Everyone took it seriously. Some people cried and some held hands. It was windy and a bit cold but nobody complained. After we went back to class, I felt like this protest didn’t change the country but it changed me. I had never had never really thought about school shootings before I participated in the walkout. Those 17 minutes gave me the time to reflect on gun violence in schools. I believe that there should be more gun control because kids shouldn’t go to school wondering if they will be the next victims of a school shooting.

Gun violence is on many people's minds, and one voice can make an impact. Justin Blackman, a high school student, was the only student to participate in his school’s walk out. During the 17 minutes of silence, he recorded a Twitter video in which he said he’d walked out of class, “Because the 17 people in Florida that are dead, they can’t protest anymore, they can’t do anything anymore but lie in their grave because a kid not even too far from my age was able to access a gun.” It is impressive that he got up and left class when his whole school forgot, didn’t know about the walkout, or didn’t care. At my school, I didn’t walk out until someone else did it first. When he made the Twitter video, it went viral and he made an impact by stating that kids shouldn’t be able to access a gun. Blackman wasn’t the only young person to make an impact on the issue. Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old African American girl, became a national figure for speaking out.

One of the best outcomes of the March for Our Lives was the fact that Naomi Wadler’s speech was heard by millions of people. She spoke in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, saying, “I am here to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don’t lead on the evening news.” People of color should get the same respect as white people. When people of color are killed by gun violence but the media doesn’t cover it, it sends the message that their lives aren’t valued. Wadler also said, “For far too long, these names, these black girls and women, have been just numbers. I’m here to say, ‘Never again’ for those girls, too. I am here to say that everyone should value those girls, too.” This should matter to all of us because too many people who should be on the news, are just numbers or statistics because of the color of their skin. This speech was important because the millions of people who heard Wadler will remember to value those black girls and women too.

After walking out, I felt like this protest didn’t change the country but it changed me. Reflecting on gun violence during the 17 minutes of silence, watching the news, and watching Naomi Wadler’s speech made me feel like I was part of a larger movement. It made me feel good. This movement is important because it believes we should value people whom the mainstream media views as numbers or statistics. It believes that one voice can make an impact and that kids shouldn’t go to school wondering if their school will be a target for violence. One protest doesn’t change things, but if enough people band together in a movement, that can change the country.