Chanting “Disarm hate,” “enough is enough” and “this is what democracy looks like,” roughly 500 students surrounded Trinity School on West 91st Street on Wednesday morning to take part in the National School Walkout.
Wednesday marked the one-month anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people, including students, were fatally shot by a former classmate.
Taking place at 10 a.m. at schools across the city and nation, the 17-minute walkouts were held to honor those 17 Parkland victims and show lawmakers that the next generation has seen enough inaction when it comes to school safety and gun control.
Ahead of the walkout, Trinity freshman Naomi Doron told Metro that she was called into action after seeing the similarities between her classmates and the Parkland students.
“This shooting and the scale of it had all us kids finally standing up to say, ‘Enough,’” she said.
Cigal Tzohar, the 14-year-old’s mother, also participated in the walkout her daughter helped organize.
“The main essence of being in school is making change — it’s more than academia,” Tzohar said.
Students from third to 12th grade took part in Trinity School’s walkout, which included a moment of silence to remember the Parkland victims. At the end of that moment, the students chanted, “No more silence, stop gun violence!”
Wednesday’s walkout was not the first time students at the 309-year-old school protested violence, said Kevin Ramsey, director of communications.
“I remember hearing about anti-war protests in ’60s,” he said, “but I can’t think of another time when all three divisions took part in something like this.”
