Utah students hold rally for Santa Fe school shooting
May 18, 2018, 7:02 PM | Updated: 9:40 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Close to a hundred students laid on the cement ground below the south steps of the Utah State Capitol Friday afternoon. They stayed there for 22 minutes – one minute for each school shooting so far this year, according to a CNN report.
“This is an epidemic we’re seeing in America,” said Brighton High School senior Isaac Reese. “These school shootings are so frequent, and we need to keep speaking out against it, and speaking up that things need to change.”
Earlier this morning, many of them had their minds on what might seem like more typical teen issues.
“We have our prom tomorrow, and we finished our tests today, and we wanted to go out and be high school students,” Elizabeth Love, a senior at West High School said. “I just felt so nauseated and so upset, and knew that we needed to do something immediately and harness that energy to make sure it doesn’t happen again and keep happening.”
The rally was organized by members of March For Our Lives Salt Lake City, which is comprised of student officers from schools across the Salt Lake valley. They also have the help of an adult adviser.
After the 22 minute demonstration, West High School senior Abena Bakenra invited others to share their feelings in front of the group. Several voiced concerns over school shootings becoming a new normal.
Bakena said rallies like the one held today are there to make sure those tragic shootings like the one in Santa Fe, Texas don’t become casual in the minds of citizens and lawmakers.
“As soon as I’m silent about an issue, is when that issue doesn’t matter anymore,” Bakenra said. “It’s kind of hard because you’re just hit every day constantly with these emotions, and you’re seeing these families torn apart by this issue that could be solved.”
