Taking the stage on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, high school student David Hogg offered hundreds of thousands of audience members a visual representation of his reasons for helping to organize the March for Our Lives, a worldwide gun control advocacy demonstration.
“I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here as a reminder for you guys to know how much Marco Rubio took for every student’s life in Florida,” Hogg said, placing a price tag reading “$1.05” on the podium.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has received $3,303,355 from the National Rifle Association (NRA). Because the #NeverAgain movement has found that there are 3,140,167 children enrolled in Florida’s schools, Hogg reasoned, each child’s life is worth approximately one dollar to the senator.
“I’m going to start off by putting this price tag right here as a reminder for you guys to know how much Marco Rubio took for every student’s life in Florida,” Parkland survivor David Hogg says at #MarchForOurLives. pic.twitter.com/i54QSygI4C
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 24, 2018
“When politicians say that your voice doesn’t matter because the NRA owns them, we say: No more. When politicians send their thoughts and prayers with no action, we say: No more. And to those politicians supported by the NRA, that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say: Get your résumés ready,” said Hogg.
The student was one of several speakers at the march from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 14 of Hogg’s classmates and three staff members were killed in a mass shooting on February 14.
After reading the names of the victims, Emma Gonzalez, who has been a prominent voice in the school community’s calls for common-sense gun control reforms in recent weeks, stood silently for six minutes and 20 seconds to signify the amount of time it took for a gunman with an AR-15 to kill the 17 people.
Emma Gonzalez led a powerful, minutes-long silence at #MarchForOurLives after speaking the names of her 17 classmates who died during the Parkland shooting. pic.twitter.com/wiz8qCV3CJ
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 24, 2018
There’s near-complete silence on Pennsylvania Ave. as Douglas student activist Emma Gonzalez lists the things her slain friends will never again get to do, then stops speaking.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 24, 2018
Gonzalez maintained her emotional silence until the length of the massacre had elapsed. Lots of crying people.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) March 24, 2018
Attendees hold up peace signs as Emma Gonzalez holds a 6 minute and 20 second moment of silence. @CFFocus_ #KnightsMarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/74Kv75zvDj
— Caroline Jackson (@Caroline_R_J) March 24, 2018
Prior to the students’ speeches, hundreds of thousands of Americans marched through the city, many carrying signs reading “Never Again” and chanting “Enough is enough!”
The crowd is massive here at #MarchForOurLives. Lots of colorful signs calling for gun-control and calling out lawmakers and the NRA. There’s even a poop emoji ballon with @Emma4Change’s quote “We call b.s.” pic.twitter.com/Zq9cVDoEAw
— Christal Hayes (@Journo_Christal) March 24, 2018
This crowd is overwhelming and so, so awesome to see. The #MarchForOurLives in DC extends for blocks and blocks and blocks. pic.twitter.com/V6Jk65B7cD
— Nick Dean (@bynickdean) March 24, 2018
By 1:00pm in Washington, more than 207,000 people had ridden the city’s Metro — more than three times the average number of Saturday riders.
“Sibling marches” both large and small took place in cities across the country.
#MarchForOurLives NYC protesters as far as the eye can see. pic.twitter.com/ndEaeCnAzq
— RosieCT (@RosieCT50) March 24, 2018
From today’s march in Vermont: “Try to get your hands on some nice French raw cheese,” she says, suggesting it would be easier to buy a gun. pic.twitter.com/I53DlF3Gj6
— Jess Bidgood (@jessbidgood) March 24, 2018
Chants of “the N.R.A. has got to go” as the march continues in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/gjq5pTb1P6
— Mitch Smith (@MitchKSmith) March 24, 2018
Guys, this is what hope looks like. #marchforourlives #neveragain #BirminghamAL pic.twitter.com/TmieokMEwo
— Ginger (@gin313) March 24, 2018
On every continent except Antarctica, supporters — many from countries that have had strict regulations on gun ownership for decades — staged protests in solidarity with American students.
Berlin: participants from around the world showing solidarity w the marchers in the US #marchforourlives pic.twitter.com/h2gqKaYAlB
— Maya Shwayder (@MayaErgas) March 24, 2018
Sign from #MarchForOurLives in Sydney, Australia. pic.twitter.com/AN9oM53fLF
— The ’60s at 50 (@the_60s_at_50) March 23, 2018
A huge turn-out at the #MarchForOurLives outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms in London calling for sweeping changing on gun control @LBC pic.twitter.com/Y24vP5g28A
— Lucy Hough (@lucyhough33) March 24, 2018
In Washington, D.C., Hogg alluded to the fact, often-repeated by the #NeverAgain movement, that many of the students who survived the Parkland shooting will be voting for the first time in the 2018 or 2020 elections.
“Who here is going to vote in the 2018 election?” he asked the crowd. “If you listen real close, you can hear the people in power shaking.”
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