WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite the gun violence epidemic and tensions surrounding gun control legislation, Saturday’s March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. reassured me about the future of American democracy.

From the moment I boarded a bus sponsored by Syracuse University’s Student Association, I felt a buzz of excitement for the moments to come. The magnitude of attending a national event like March for Our Lives is almost indescribable. Being surrounded by people who came together for the sole purpose of protesting gun violence in schools was empowering beyond measure.

“My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” said Yolanda Renee King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter, in front of the more than 200,000 attendees at the D.C. March for Our Lives. “I have a dream that enough is enough. And that this should be a gun-free world. Period.”

Gun control shouldn’t strictly be a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s only March, and there have been, per CNN, 17 school shootings in which an individual was hurt or killed in the United States in 2018. That speaks volumes. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, no one should justify our politicians prioritizing NRA money and access to guns over children’s lives.

At Saturday’s march, we as students were in awe of what we were part of. We knew it was going to be powerful. But to cry alongside the survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting; to listen to the realities of gun violence as told by Chicago youth; and to mourn the deaths of those lost in the 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School was heart-wrenching.

Protesters propped up signs marked with phrases including “GRANNIES FOR GUN CONTROL” and “I’m a student from Texas and even I want gun control.” Seeing thousands of diverse people come together, hold up signs and protest peacefully was special.

Attending March for Our Lives was the first time since the Trump administration took office that I felt as if the country wouldn’t stand for gun violence any longer. I finally feel hope for the radical change we’ve needed for years.

The old, NRA-money-loving white men in power aren’t the future of our country. Yolanda Renee King and Parkland activists Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and Cameron Kasky are. We can’t let this dialogue end after media coverage of it dies down. We must continue to voice our dissatisfaction and take action by using our democratic privilege to vote these people out.

In the words of Gonzalez: “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

Lauren Silverstein is an undeclared freshman in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Her column appears biweekly. She can be reached at lsilve03@syr.edu.

Published on March 25, 2018 at 9:47 pm