500 March for Gun Safety in Chestertown
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More than 500 participants took part in the March for Our Lives Saturday, March 24, in Chestertown. The peaceful demonstration was one of more than 800 nationwide and around the world in response to gun violence in schools, especially the murder of 17 students in Parkland, Florida earlier this year.
Marchers assembled at the Kent County office on High Street just before noon. Carrying signs and banners, they headed down High Street to Wilmer Park, remaining on sidewalks so as not to interfere with traffic. The line of marchers was at least two blocks long. Many of them chanted, “Enough is enough,” and “Hey hey, ho ho, school shooting’s got to go,” referring to the epidemic of shootings that have plagued the country in recent years.
At the park, they heard speakers including several Kent County Middle School students, and music from a trio of local musicians. First to speak was Dr. Kathryn Seifert, CEO of Eastern Shore Psychological Services, who recommended a mental health program in every school, to allow evaluation and early treatment of the problems that lead to gun violence. The US has the second highest rate of child abuse worldwide, and is in the top five nations for its rate of sexual abuse of children, she said.
Four middle school students then took the microphone. Alana Fithian Wilson, Riley Glenn, Tilera Wright, and Ty-Juan Billingslea gave passionate, fact-filled statements on the impact of gun violence in schools. Violence is one of America's biggest problems, with racism as a leading cause, Wilson told the crowd. "We need people like you to get involved," she said. "It's time to take a stand, and it needs to be unified." Billingslea said guns are the third leading cause of childhood deaths, with young people exposed to gun violence more likely to engage in drug or alcohol abuse and criminal activity later in life. More American children have been killed by guns since Columbine in 1999 than American Soldiers killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This counts all deaths of children from gun shots – whether homicides, accidents, suicides, at home, in school, in malls or stores, or on the streets.
The students were followed by Grenville Whitman of Kent County Citizens to Prevent Gun Violence. He praised members of the District 36 delegation in the Maryland General Assembly for their vote to ban “bump stocks,” which allow rapid fire from semi-automatic weapons. Whitman noted that 2018 is an election year, and urged marchers to register and vote. He also noted that Rep. Andy Harris is the only member of Maryland’s congressional delegation to accept donations from the NRA. “Vote him out,” he urged the crowd, which responded by repeating “Vote him out!”
After the rally, Paul Tue, one of the organizers, wrote in a Facebook message, “I'm proud of this community and even prouder of my young people that spoke up and spoke out. That's the biggest win to me – empowering the next generation to use their voices in activism.”
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