Marching For Our Kids Lives
So went the refrain at the massive New York City wing of the March For Our Lives. Police officers told me they were hearing over their radios that over a hundred and sixty thousand protestors had taken to the streets this last Saturday to take action on getting some new gun control laws in place.
I try to stay away from talking politics on Steemit, but this is an issue too prescient to ignore.
On the subway there we tried to explain to our little ones what this march was about and realized that there was an important comparison to be made between materialism and the reason for protest. Putting things before people has become an American staple and one it’s increasingly important to address.
As we exited the subway, things were already in full affect...
We had to walk uptown 14 blocks just to enter the back of the mass of sign holding humanity.
We entered the march right by my grandmother Madeline’s house, which reminding me of a simpler time of my own childhood when the proliferation of guns hadn’t yet become such an insanely commercial endeavor. Like so many forces in our modern society where the greed of a few, represented by insanely well paid lobbyists, outweigh the general human interest. My kids with their regular active shooter drills in school aren’t as lucky.
Not that gun violence is something new, the protest took us right past the Dakota building where John Lennon was shot.
I was thankful for the NYPD’s garbage truck patrol, which it took me a moment to realize was to protect the crowd from vehicular assault — bringing to mind that assault rifles aren’t the only thing that people use to kill other people these days, just a lightweight, convenient and very well crafted option with proven lethality.
We waited nearly an hour for the massive crowd to start moving. Our 5 year old got crazy bored and started driving me insane so we climbed the wall of a rock in Central Park and got a nice high vantage.
And one of the funniest, and perhaps most poignant slogans went to:
“If we rename school uterus, maybe Congress will want to do something about the people dying inside of it”.
And even where we went for lunch they agreed…
And here’s what our kids thought:
Our 5 year old:
Not great, because for some parts we were just standing.
It was good that it was saying no guns.
Our 2 year old:
That we go to the march was good; when I ate salt I cried. (Which I’m guessing was in relation to when he at sugar off the table at lunch).
And my wife @zenmommas thoughts:
"After an hour plus of standing...I felt my feet walking. I felt, in community, an even deeper sadness for all of the victims and their families. I felt open hearts that, maybe purposefully, maybe not, didn't choose to fill the space with chatter and noise. I enjoyed the silence. I held tight to my big boy's hand with my little guy nuzzling against my neck in the backpack carrier and I looked around and saw that my eyes weren't the only ones filled with tears. All sorts of tears falling from down my face, from joy in coming together to support something so vitally important, to utter terror that I too could lose one of my sweet boys in a senseless act of violence and everything in between. It felt to me like a new kind of fresh power. ("Perhaps, one of action and not of empty words?" she wondered, hopefully.)
Additionally, I found it powerful to acknowledge that this march was a 1st for so many of these young people. These kids (and teachers and parents and grandparents and humans) have something they really care about and, although some are still finding their voices, some are shouting their message to the tree tops. And I, for one, am very proud of them and see their ray of sunshine peeking through the clouds.
One of the most exciting moments for me was riding home on the subway and seeing a grizzly New Yorker have a super engaged conversation with a dozen orange wearing teenage girls. Their lively conversation ended in his encouraging them to keep it up, and tell them that their message is super important to carry forward. And that even if you get pushed around, fight for your rights and don’t stop for all of us.
More and more this seems to be less of a partisan issue and more of a greed vs. sanity issue but if you don’t want gun control, please let me know why in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts and discuss!
Yours in the Chain,
Doug
I am a Brooklyn based writer, film & commercial director, and crypto-enthusiast, my projects include @HardFork-series an upcoming narrative crypto-noir and my novel Dwelling will soon be premiering exclusively on Steemit, and you can check out more of my work at dougkarr.com, piefacepictures.com, and www.imdb.com/name/nm1512347
Please comment, up-vote and resteem and I'll gladly upvote your comments!
Well done, Doug! This kind of protest fills me with hope that this younger generation will see through the manipulation by the media and work towards the kind of substantial change our country so desperately needs.
It saddened me (but came as no surprise) that one "Alt Right" news outlet compared these protests and speeches by adolescents to "Hitler Youth", saying these kids were brainwashed by the Democrats.
Watching Get Me Roger Stone (thanks for telling me about that, btw) was a potent reminder of how our political system (and the media) is being used against us in almost every conceivable way. The deep division has to stop. Somehow our country needs to find middle ground again or what remains of this experiment called America will implode around us.
Wow. Way to represent / awesome !
Oh yes, this problem with arms trafficking and mass shootings in schools exists in many countries, but in the US it is felt very acutely, because in the USA there were the most victims. Personally, I advocate strict restrictions on the circulation of weapons and, of course, some other measures are needed, of course, so that the victim in schools and among young people will be excluded altogether! Thank you @dougkarr
I also want to be stay away from politics but we can't because it's in our vein. We hear mostly examples giving by people that in America mostly people are murdered with guns.
I hate bad peoples that how to eleminate from the earth
@dougkarr,
I'm also don't like to talk about topic of politics. But this must need to talking everywhere. I appreciate you talking about child problem in USA. I've heard through news, lot of murders via guns. It's bad condition. Government must need to gun control and stop killing by them. Require to provide more lows of gun control.
A big summary about what wanted to express this marching
These marches made me so proud of my country. I wasn't able to go due to a health issue, but I was there in spirit, and I admire every single person who took part.
I don't know what school was like 40 or 50 years ago, but it was pretty much the same 20 years ago. Students didn't have social media to deal with when I was a kid, but they were still forced to sit in a seat for hours on end, unable to go to the bathroom without permission. One school I went to even locked the bathrooms before the bell rang, so kids wouldn't hide in them. If you had to pee at that time, you had to get special permission, then go across the entire campus. This pretty much meant you were likely to piss yourself.
School is torture. It has been for a long time. This isn't new. Just look at how many commit suicide due to school. Part of that is bullies but I would argue that it's still the school's fault, as they didn't do anything about the abuse the bully submitted the student to.
The unfortunate reality is that everything gets politicized today. Every event, every tragedy, everything... While I certainly applaud the Florida kids for becoming politically active and caring about our democracy, I do tend to feel that they are being manipulated by the media... Anyway, I grew up in Texas but now live on the East Coast, and I can tell you that these two parts of the nation are worlds apart!
Yeah, the USA is a very big place. I've lived in California, Colorado, and North Carolina. The difference between North Carolina and California especially was huge. I moved back to California (I was born here) a few years ago, and it was a good decision. This is my favorite place of the three. Can't beat the weather, and I feel the people here are more my speed.
Awesome photography of this march Its great no doubt its time to take steps on the spot Thanks for informing us keep it up Nice to read your post its part of our life so keep it up Thanks for sharing