March For Our Lives Boston: Thousands March To End Gun Violence

BOSTON, MA — They left Madison Park Technical Vocational High School on Malcolm X Boulevard in Roxbury bearing signs and bearing a message; "Never Again."

The Boston March for Our Lives, a sister event to the main rally in Washington D.C, drew tens of thousands of students and allies, shutting down Columbus Avenue for nearly 2 miles, as onlookers stopped and took photos, cheered them on, and held up signs of their own.

When the march got to Charles Street it paused between school buses flanking the road. Bus drivers hung out of the windows taking photos and the student-led chants got louder. As they turned onto the Boston Common their chant "Enough is enough," got louder and the demonstrators were met with cheers from a sea of onlookers from Charles Street to the monument.

Adults and allies gave out high fives from the other side of protective barriers as the young people turned the bend and organizers instructed the young people to make their way to the stage, a space reserved for only them.

"If you are 25 or older we're not talking to you," the organizers shouted. "Students to the front!, this is your movement," they said, highlighting something that has been central to this march.

Not only are the students who are leading this movement calling for an end to gun violence, but in Boston the message has become intertwined with Black Lives Matter, drawing attention to an issue that has long existed for communities of color in urban schools. Organizers, who are mostly white, acknowledge they are using their privilege to help push the message that schools should be free of gun violence in all communities.

The march arrived at Boston Common. See below for the video, and visit the Boston Patch Facebook page for more.

The DJ pumped out the theme song to Fresh Prince of Bell Air and shouted "If this doesn't excite you, something's wrong."

Students danced up close to the stage as parents and adults older than 25 relegated to a separate area cheered in the back.

"Seventeen families will never see their loved ones again, and everyone will live the rest of their lives with the horror of the tragedy that happened in their school," Beca Munoz, a student at Northeastern and a native of Parkland, Florida said taking the stage with her sister who was at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas in Parkland the On Feb. 14. "I remember receiving a text from my younger sister ‘I'm safe. Code Red. School shooter. Do not call.’ No one should have to get a text like that."

Students lead the speaking program that started just after 2 p.m. sharing stories of how gun violence had personally impacted them.

"We must remain outraged but we must continue to build and organize," said one speaker who took the stage after students and teachers and the group T and P Empire.

Snow started to fall around 2:45 p.m. and the cold seemed to drive some away, but the rally continued, the mood spirited, as students asked their peers for cheers or for moments of silence.

Rose Hazard a nanny and a theatre arts teacher who moved to the area from Ohio described the scene as one of hope and excitement.

"There was something rippling through everyone," she said after the rally ended around 4 p.m.

Students told Patch they thought it was important that such attention was paid to communities of color at this Boston event.

"That a lot of people get upset the moment white lives get lost but that the students from Parkland are doing their best to use this moment to shed light on how inappropriately affected communities of color are; it's important that they shed light on that," said Laura Goodfield.

Along the way:

One teen who was prepping to jump into the march along Columbus said she went to a girls' school in Quincy but still felt affected by gun violence at home.

"I'm from Dorchester and I grew up with the sounds of gunshots and gun and gang violence," said Cheyenne Taylor, 18.

Though her school is small, they still have had the experience of huddling in a room together. There was recently a report of a gunman in the area and the school went on lockdown, she and her classmates said.

"People always say we go to a girls' school so we're not distracted by boys, but but no one should be distracted by guns. Come on," said Maura Hegarty.

And that is the point.

"Yes we may only be 13, but we still have common sense to know that if there is more safety, schools will be more safe," said Marley Jackowitz, who goes to school at Wilson Middle School in Natick and came to jump into the March near the Back Bay T station with some friends.

Adults butting in a little bit:

Some students said although there were awesome adults throughout the march who had volunteered to help keep the march safe by getting people off the road to let them pass, it wasn't always perfect.

Student organizers came up with the cheers and led them and decided which when, but this reporter could see adults not listening to their instructions to stay at the back, some hopping in to the front of the march, despite repeated instructions over the loudspeaker.

Still most seemed to stick to the sidelines or the back.

"One of the best parts of the march was that it was student driven and student organized. But as protesters came into the barricades it was all controlled by adults. And in that context some of us were being physically held back by them, it had an oppressive feel to it," said Laura.

But she said that feeling was turned around by the time the program got started. The only adults to take the mic were teachers, asked to share their experience.

"We do not want guns," said Graciela a teacher who once served in the Marine Corps and spoke about the first time she held a gun for target practice - at a target shaped like a human - and felt the weight and power of a gun. "If you want us to be armed, arm us with science equipment... arm us with books... arm us with enough pens and paper," she said to cheers.

We'll be updating this story throughout the day. Subscribe to Boston Patch for more Hub happenings and check back soon.

READ THIS, TOO: Boston's March For Our Lives Gets Underway

And check out the end of the program:

Photos by Jenna Fisher/Patch