‘Will today be the day when a school shooter comes?’

Madison students express anxiety and hope at rally on gun control

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In the crowd of students preparing to march down East Washington Avenue, siblings Christian, 13, and Akoya Alton, 11, stood out. They were among the youngest children to join in the demonstration protesting gun violence and demanding policy changes to make schools safer. “We don’t want to have to be scared,” Akoya Alton told Isthmus. “When we get to high school, we don’t want to wonder, ‘Will today be the day when a school shooter comes?’”

A student at DeForest Area Middle School, Alton has already been through lockdown drills. “Our teachers tell us what to do when a shooter comes to our school but they don’t tell us what to do when a shooter is our classmate,” she says. She carried a handmade sign bearing the names of dozens of children killed in school shootings over the last 20 years — nearly double the time she has been alive. “I don’t want my friends to be on this list,” Christian Alton said. Their mom, Lindsay Alton, said she was marching alongside her children “to let them know that their voices matter.” But while she supported their activism, she lamented the need for the demonstration. “It’s sad that it has to be this way,” she said. “[We] can’t just let them be kids.”

An estimated 3,000 students from Madison area high schools as well as UW-Madison walked out of their classes on Wednesday and held a rally at the Capitol. Student activists across the country held similar walkouts. They were spurred to action following the mass shooting that left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Tens of thousands participated in Wednesday’s demonstrations, which came 10 days before a march on Washington organized by Stoneman Douglas survivors that could draw hundreds of thousands of students to the nation’s capital.

With many dressed in orange to symbolize gun violence awareness, students marched down a barricaded East Washington Avenue carrying signs and banners. They chanted slogans advocating for gun control, denouncing the National Rifle Association and asking a harrowing question — “Are we next?” There were parents and former and current teachers in the mix. Marchers gathered at the state Capitol for a rally featuring speeches from student organizers, state legislators and community-based social justice activists.

“Enough is enough. This stops today,” state Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison) told the students. “Change is coming because of you. You are the change.”

After the rally, students entered the Capitol and walked to the office of Gov. Scott Walker. They had planned to present him with a petition and letter outlining their demands for policy change — universal background checks, banning bump stocks, limiting magazine capacity, raising the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle or firearm to 21, and making firearm education and training more accessible — but Walker was at an appearance in Florence County. Walker’s office did not respond to an Isthmus request for comment.

Still, the students felt positive about the demonstration — and for the potential to enact the changes they believe necessary to make schools safer.

“I feel really empowered. It’s exciting to see all the Madison schools come together for an important cause,” said Milo Sachse-Hofheimer, a 16-year-old East High student. “Our generation is finding its voice.”

For Jordynn Williams, a 15-year-old student at Clark Street Community School, a charter school in Middleton, Wednesday’s walkout marked her first experience with activism. In the past, she said, her parents discouraged her from participating in demonstrations out of concern for her safety. “My mom is just really worried that something could happen, like a shooting,” Williams said. But she convinced her parents to let her march on Wednesday. “This time, the tragedy is affecting people my age,” she said.

Students said teachers have largely been supportive of students participating in the demonstrations, telling them “not to stress about” homework. “A lot of classes are just watching movies today, so we don’t miss anything,” said Josephine Putnam, an 18-year-old student at West High.

As the students marched, adults lined up along the streets with signs of their own showing support for the demonstration. Local businesses and organizations also supported the demonstration. The Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company provided two buses to shuttle students to East High, workers from Associated Bank on East Washington Avenue brought out cases of water for the marchers and United Methodist Church provided snacks and hot chocolate for participants.

Shreya Shrestha, an 18-year-old West High student, said the demonstration made her feel motivated to continue efforts to change gun laws in the U.S. “I’m feeling really excited that teens are here doing change,” she said. “Some people think kids can’t do anything, but here we are.”

Many students pointed to the Parkland shooting as the event that catalyzed the student movement. And nearly every student interviewed vowed to keep the momentum for gun control going beyond Wednesday’s demonstration. At the rally, volunteers were registering students to vote — many said the best chance to enact change is for young people to take an active role in electing representatives who share their priorities.

“Not enough is being done about guns, but I think kids are starting to say something,” said Nick Caropreso, a 17-year-old Memorial High student. “This [march] is the start of something bigger. People are not done with this issue.”