More than one million students all over the country staged a walkout at 10:00 am (in their respective time zones) and held vigil for the 17 students killed in Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
It was, many thought, the largest student walkout since the days of the civil rights demonstration
MSNBC devoted the full hour to the protest, not even breaking for commercials. CNN spent significant time on the story, interviewing students and highlighting the national nature of the movement. Fox News devoted only a couple of brief headline segments to the events.
There were moments of silence, die-ins, etc.
Powerful: Hundreds of #Baltimore Poly students laying on ground to honor 17 victims killed in FL shooting & to push for stricter gun laws #NationalSchoolWalkout #NationalWalkoutDay #WalkoutWednesday pic.twitter.com/0pSFht6tVN
— Rick Ritter (@RickRitterWJZ) March 14, 2018
“In an ideal world, the 20 first graders and kindergartners who died at Sandy Hook would be in middle school… The 17 victims from Stoneman Douglas would probably be eating lunch right now,” student says at #NationalWalkoutDay rally https://t.co/9UbJD8FATr pic.twitter.com/77EQYqxmkw
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 14, 2018
For the most part, school teachers and administrators were on board with the protest, except in the South where many schools forbid such a walkout. In one such school, student stopped in the hallway at 10:00, gone on one knee, and prayed silently for 17 seconds. Nice.
A successful day, summed up nicely by one of the Parkland high school shooting survivors.
To the parents supporting their children walking out, thank you for raising this new generation of leaders.
To the parents who didn’t support their children who walked out anyway, thank you for raising this new generation of leaders. #NeverAgain #MarchForOurLives
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) March 14, 2018
Oh. I should have mentioned…. even younger kids took part.
