Student Walk Outs- Soleil

   Many students, across the US are participating just like our own school, Booker T. Washington HSPVA, in school walk outs. 

            "On Wednesday March 14th, thousands participated in Nationwide walkouts to protest gun violence and honor the 17 lives lost in the Parkland shooting. Among the participating schools was mine, Hoggard High School. At 10 am when the protests began, hundreds of students marched to the forum with their voices ready to be heard. I came prepared with my “Arms are for Hugging” t-shirt and “No more silence, end gun violence” written on my poster. 17 students were standing on a wooden bench and came forward one by one, passionately representing each of the 17 victims.

The experience was amazing. I felt as though anything was possible and that we could make a difference. Seeing so many students vying for change made me proud of my generation. I felt like my father, who years earlier, marched on Washington to protest the Vietnam War. As a teenager, adults look down on us. They see us as hormonal children that only care about themselves. But during the walkout, we showed them that we will not stay silent and afterwards, they were looking up to us."

"Teenagers are usually looked down upon in politics, like our opinion doesn’t matter, we don’t know enough about politics to have a say. It’s important for teenagers to be able to speak out for what they believe in. This enforce good political habits, speaking your mind, standing up for what you believe in, participating in voting, etc.

I participated in the walkout on Wednesday, March 14th. I don’t necessarily agree with what my school was preaching about. I went to honor the victims. The walkout turned into a ban guns rally. Guns aren’t the problem, it’s the ones behind the trigger that are the problem. In the article “National School Walkout: Thousands Protest Against Gun Violence Across the U.S.,” they mention a 16 year-old who stayed in class during the protest, saying that banning guns isn’t the issue and that the real issue is the people doing it.” That was his way of participating in political activism. He stayed because it’s what he believed in.

Teenagers should participate in political activism. It feels good to be a part of something bigger than you could imagine and trying to make a change in the world. In the article “Why Demonstrating is Good for Kids,” it mentions a study in the journal Child Development, teens and young adults who voted, volunteered, or engaged in activism went farther in school and had higher incomes than those who didn’t advocate for change. It is so important that we develop our voices at a young age. It only helps us in the long run." 

 I believe this relates to history, as it shows people using their rights to participate in speaking out against the patriarchy of whom they are governed by. This is a great example of many peaceful protests that can relate all the way back to period 2.