On Saturday, March 3, many Ann Arbor citizens participated in a downtown rally in support of gun control. Part of the event was a six-minute “die-in,” in which rally participants laid on the ground for six minutes as the names of the parkland shooting victims and other gun violence victims were read. Six minutes is reportedly the amount of time it took for the Parkland, Fla., mass shooting gunman to kill all 17 victims.

The event was organized by many students including Pioneer junior Sarah Lewis. She got the idea, she said, from the local news.   “After seeing the shooting in Florida it really hit me close to home and I knew of a lot of people who wanted to do something and say something. I saw kids doing a die-in on the news,” she said.

Pioneer student Meg Goldberg who co-organized the event saw the die-in on the news with Lewis. “We thought it would be cool to organize it here in Ann Arbor,” said Goldberg.

There were many student speakers at the event including Pioneer junior Clara Nunez-Regueiro and Pioneer senior Marquan Kane. Kane spoke because he believes that gun violence is seriously hurting members of the community. “I’m here to uplift the community and combat this issue,” Kane said.

The rally also had several adult speakers including Ann Arbor Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeanice Swift and Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor. Taylor said he found the rally very inspirational. “I’m so excited that students are making their voices heard,” said Taylor.  “I think high schoolers now and going forward have a real opportunity to affect change.”

There will be another walk out on Wednesday, March 14, at 10 a.m. followed by a rally in Ypsilanti High School Parking Lot at 10:45 am. The Washtenaw Youth Resistance is organizing that protest.