Evanston Seniors Support Anti-Gun Violence March

EVANSTON, IL — As tens of thousands of demonstrators marched through Chicago calling for tougher gun laws as part of nationwide March for Our Lives rallies, a group of Evanston senior citizens took to the street in solidarity with the youth-led movement. A crowd of about 100 people gathered at Fountain Square Saturday morning led by residents of the Mather Evanston senior living community.

Sanna Longden, a resident of the Mather for the past two years, was a lead organizer of the event. Like many retirement home residents, travelling long distances to join large crowds is not always such an attractive endeavor.

"When they say: 'There's going to be 500,000 people downtown,' I think, 'That's too many for me.'" she said. "But organizing the little march from the Mather to support that march was effective. It made the people here feel like they were a part of it."

They held signs with messages like, "I may be old but I stand with the young," "For our grandchildren and yours, we support the students" and, "Honest gun safety legislation will not lead to a slippery slope but to a sensible ascent.”

The aged assembly also sang songs, such as “We Shall Overcome,” and included some spontaneous speakers – like a high school student and grandson of a Mather resident who happened to be visiting from California.

It's the second time this month Longden has organized her fellow seniors for a march in support of kids' call for reform of gun laws. On March 14, she was joined by more than two dozen Mather residents as they walked out spontaneously in solidarity with nationwide school walkouts.

With her reputation established as the "Mather March Maven," Longden was soon asked what she had planned for Saturday's March for Our Lives. So she coordinated with Frank Koppelman, who maintains an email list of about 160 politically-inclined residents of the senior home.

"I'm trying to get people to be more active in whatever ways they can," Koppelman said. "People have limits to what they can do, or what they think they can do." He said he started his mailing list shortly after the 2016 election and has looked to connect residents with ways they can take action.

"I just thought something terribly wrong is going on in this country, and I felt I had to do something," he said.

They started gearing up for the march on Tuesday, placing notices in each of the mailing room and emailing those on Koppelman's mailing list. There was no trouble generating interest, and seniors from Mather were joined by some residents of the Presbyterian Homes at 1020 Grove, Longden said.

"People were ready. They wanted to, they were still buzzing from the 14th," she told Patch. "This is a wonderful group of people, there's no lack of supporters."

Longden and a group of about a half-dozen residents, including her friend Florence Ferber, got a table in the lounge and made signs the day before.

"We all made posters, and some who didn't make posters had the posters that we made, so I enjoyed being part of it," Ferber said, of her first protest march.

"I supported many of these things, but it's not for me... It's not my personality," Ferber explained. "I'm not an activist." But she said she enjoyed being a part of the march and has strong feelings about guns ownership, which she considers more of a responsibility than a right.

"This is why I went on the walk and I made posters and I chanted and yelled and everything else," she said.

Many Mather residents remain committed to push for tighter gun laws and to oppose the National Rifle Association, said Longden, a longtime Evanstonian and renowned folk dance teacher who's been involved in politics dating back to the 1960s. She said the activism needs to go beyond marching.

"We need to do more direct things, talk to our legislators, write things," she said.

"We need our legislators to be brave – not take the money, and say to the NRA, 'F--- you guys, I'm doing what's right."