Its only gotten worse.
It was a refrain from El Camino Real Charter High School on Friday morning, where student Steven Bash reflected on the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, as he geared up for his schools part in a nationwide student walkout to once again show solidarity against violence at school campuses.
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Hundreds of students gather in the quad to spell out “We Will” at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during National School Walkout Day. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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Chelsey Assor, 17, holds the name of a student killed in a mass school shooting as hundreds of students gather in the quad to spell out “We Will” at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during the anniversary of Columbine mass shooting and National School Walkout Day. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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Jovaun Williams, 18, helps set up the quad at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during National School Walkout Day to protest mass shootings. “I believe schools should be safe…I believe kids should feel safe and parents should feel safe sending their kids to school,” she said. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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Jacob Zonis, 18, who is going to Georgetown in the fall to study government, speaks to classmates as they sit down and spell “We Will” on their quad with banners that say #breakthecycle at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during National School Walkout Day. Zonis was the organizer of the event. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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From left, Sevag Halajian, 18, and Christopher Meany, 17, hold names of those killed in mass school shootings as hundreds of students gather in the quad to spell out “We Will” at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during National School Walkout Day. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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Hundreds of students gather in the quad to spell out “We Will” at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda on Friday, April 20, 2018 during National School Walkout Day. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)
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True. Bash, 16, vice president of the schools student body, wasnt even born on April 20, 1999, when two students opened fire at the school, killing 12 of their fellow students and a teacher before killing themselves.
“Were doing this because its been 19 years since the Columbine shooting and in 19 years its only gotten worse,” he said. “Theres been more shootings, and its not OK. “We want to tell lawmakers we want change and we want it now.”
Jacob Zonis who is going to Georgetown to study government organized @ClevelandChartr #wewill #breakthecycle for #schoolwalkouts #NationalSchoolWalkoutDay pic.twitter.com/55u3XWKNps
— Sarah Reingewirtz (@sarahimages) April 20, 2018
Here is our message. We welcome all to walkout with us for whatever reason. Bring your signs. Register to vote at lunch. Get involved. Wear Orange.
pic.twitter.com/aAgRTK5ED1
— ONW Student Walkout (@ONWWalkout) April 19, 2018
The walkout follows many massacres since Columbine, the latest being in Parkland, Florida, where in February a shooter killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Across the San Fernando Valley, from Grant High School on the east to El Camino Real Charter High School on the West, students were walking out. But many stayed on campus to present their message to anyone who will listen, particularly political leaders.
Aaron Garcia, 17, from Cleveland Charter High School #nationalschoolwalkout pic.twitter.com/evwrnXPNPF
— Olga Grigoryants (@OlgaGrigory) April 20, 2018
RELATED STORY: 19 years after Columbine, these San Fernando Valley students are spelling out their frustration
For instance, at Cleveland Charter High School in Reseda hundreds of students gathered in the quad to spell out messages calling on government officials to take action on school safety. The students also kicked off a voter registration drive.
“This is what democracy looks like!” they chanted, as they gathered on the schools quad area.
At El Camino Real, Bash was leading an effort among El Camino and about a dozen others around the San Fernando Valley to spell out a message – “We want #safeschools now.” Using their bodies and by holding up signs, students from participating schools spelled out at least one letter in the sentence. Then, they took aerial photos. Their plan was to photoshop all of the images together to create that sentence, he said. Students at Ulysses S. Grant High School in Valley Glen also participated in the students plan to spell it out.
Jacob Zonis, of Cleveland Charter High, said he joined the national school walkout to honor victims who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting. Just a few weeks ago, he went to Washington D.C. to participate in the March for Our Lives event.
“This issue is not going away,” he said. “Were not going away. Were going to institute those policy changes.”
Interim Superintendent Vivian Ekchian in a statement that the district respects “the right of our students to advocate for causes that are important to them and support their efforts to do so. When students are passionate about an issue, it is an opportunity for educators to help them see the relationship between curriculum and real life.”
RELATED STORY: With calls for enough, thousands participate in student walkouts in LA to protest gun violence
Grant High School Principal Vicky Damonte said she gave interested students at her school her blessing since “it gives them a voice and their participating in something that is positive.”
And sure enough, at Grant, students described a huge walkout protest, where students stood on large outlined letters amid balloons, posing for a an
aerial drone photograph that would be spliced together into the “We want #safeschools now” message.
Group just got to City Hall, where a giant crowd of students is gathered in silence with their fists raised. #NationalWalkoutDay pic.twitter.com/XaDTNC70rL
— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) April 20, 2018
Students and people against gun violence also gathered at the Los Angeles Unified School Districts headquarters to rally for reform.
Across L.A., at Miguel Contreras Learning Complex, senior Wendy Ajiataz, was busy getting the word out about how her campus was participating.
Gun violence was affecting the neighborhood around her campus. And students are concerned about it — so much so that students are already talking about how their future votes will get leaders to act.
“Were afraid this might happen at our school,” she said, referencing a shooting in February, when a 12-year-old girl was arrested in connection with a shooting at Salvador Castro Middle School that left two students hospitalized, one in critical condition, and three other people with minor injuries.
RELATED STORY: 2 shot, 3 others injured in shooting at Salvador Castro Middle School in Westlake District; 12-year-old student arrested
All told, tens of thousands of students left class Friday for protests that spread from coast to coast. They filed out at 10 a.m. to gather for a moment of silence honoring the victims of gun violence. Some headed to nearby rallies. Others stayed at school to discuss gun control and register their peers to vote.
Organizers said an estimated 150,000 students protested Friday at more than 2,700 walkouts, including at least one in each state, as they sought to sustain a wave of youth activism that drove a larger round of walkouts on March 14. Activists behind that earlier protest estimated it drew nearly 1 million students.
Fridays action was planned by a Connecticut teenager, Lane Murdock, after Parkland, Florida, shooting on Feb. 14.
Several local schools organized voter registration drives.
The focus on the November elections reflects a shift after activists gained little immediate traction in Washington. And prospects for their influence remain uncertain. Congress has shown little inclination to tighten gun laws, and President Donald Trump backed away from his initial support for raising the minimum age to buy some guns.
The nationwide walkouts didnt include student protests at Columbine, which changed the way the nation viewed shootings.
Just as it has done every year since the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School was closed, and students there were going to stick with their tradition of holding a day of service to commemorate the tragedy in a community that includes both those who have pushed for gun control and to arm teachers.
Elliott Hyon, 16, from Cleveland Charter High School: Gun violence affects all of us. We need to tell our politicians to be active." #nationalschoolwalkout pic.twitter.com/9DNyQylqoH
— Olga Grigoryants (@OlgaGrigory) April 20, 2018
Junior Kaylee Tyner, who helped organize a walkout at the school on March 14, said the anniversary is a day to remember those lost in the shooting and those they left behind and politicizing it could divide the community.
“Every other day can be a day to push for change,” said Tyner, who wishes organizers of the national walkout had reached out to the Columbine community first. “But that is a day to respect victims and their families.”
Staff writers Olga Grigoryants and Brenda Gazzar, City Editor Ryan Carter and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
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