Updated: Co-organized by Ballard High School student Emilia Allard, the Seattle March For Our Lives event attracted thousands of students, parents and other concerned citizens calling for gun reform. The march kicked off at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill this morning.
“The adults have had their chance,” said Allard prior to today’s event. “They’ve had so many chances to make the change that we need and they’re not doing it.”
(Photo of Allard speaking at today’s march. By @CarmenBest)
Allard is organizing the event along with Rhiannon Rasaretnam, a senior at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley. When they noticed Seattle had yet to create a Facebook event for the march in the wake of the Parkland shooting, they joined forces. A day later, the event exploded in popularity, surpassing one thousand RSVPs and ultimately growing to over 12,000.
In the weeks that followed, they’ve met with the mayor, the acting police chief and several local businesses that helped organize donations. Last week’s student walkout at Ballard High attracted statewide attention when Governor Inslee and several state legislators attended.
“We’ve been given this opportunity, obviously not just us here in Seattle, but every student who’s a part of these marches,” Allard told The Stranger. “And we’re only going to have this opportunity for so long, when people care and continue to listen.”
Today’s March For Our Lives event gets underway at 10 a.m. with speeches and a mass voter registration. At 11 a.m. marchers leave Cal Anderson and head through downtown to Seattle Center. The event concludes at 2 p.m. Tens of thousands of people are expected to participate.
(March photo from @MFOLSeattle on Twitter)