“What do we want? Safety! When do we want it? Now!”
That was one of several chants Wauwatosa East High School students said Sept. 5 as they walked out of their school at about 11:45 a.m. in a walk against gun violence.
Over 100 students walked out of the school and through part of the Village of Wauwatosa before returning to the school. A smaller group of over 50 students remained and stood in front of the school on Milwaukee Avenue chanting and shouting while cars drove by honking their approval. Others continued walking north on Milwaukee Avenue before returning to stand with the gathered group of students in front of the school.
Wauwatosa East’s walkout was part of coordinated school walkouts nationwide connected to Students Demand Action, an arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, a group advocating against gun violence and in support of stricter gun laws. As part of their demands, the students demanded state and federal lawmakers pass laws banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Phin Clarkin, a Wauwatosa East High School senior, was the local walkout’s organizer. She said the group is protesting against gun violence in schools in America and referenced the recent shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where a shooter killed two children and injured 21 other people Aug. 27.
Clarkin said as a student-athlete, there was a chance that participating in the walkout could cause her to be suspended for her senior season of swimming. Clarkin also said other student-athletes also participated and risked their participation.
“I can sacrifice my sport if other students are sacrificing their lives to save others,” said Clarkin.
Clarkin also praised the student turnout at the event.
“I feel overwhelmed with gratitude,” Clarkin said. “People I’ve never even necessarily seen before at this school are here protesting something because all of us truly believe we need the safety.”
Lilah Weiskopf, a freshman at Wauwatosa East, carried a notebook with the words, “Take guns, not phones.”
“We don’t need to have them, especially if it’s a threat to our future. We should never feel unsafe in a place that was made for us to learn and to grow as people,” Weiskopf said.
Wauwatosa East junior Justis Ferber said when she first walked out of school, she wasn’t expecting many people to show up, but she said she was encouraged to see the large amount of people that did show up with their signs.
“It means a lot to see that so many other people my age care and that we all know that this an ongoing problem, and then seeing the cars passing by or the people walking by and hearing our message, just getting our message out,” Ferber said.
Marsey Brown-Hobson, a Wauwatosa East junior, said the household he was raised in was focused on being active in the community; he and his family had already done a lot of protesting.
“I was talking to my mom about this situation and I got an email saying that it was happening and I was like, this is my chance to finally step up,” Brown-Hobson said.
Jessie Tuttle, director of strategic communications for the Wauwatosa School District, said in an email to a reporter that the district was aware of the walkout. If students were not in class, they would be marked absent but would be excused if a parent called them out. A “small group” of students at Wauwatosa West High School also participated in the walkout, she said.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wauwatosa East students march against gun violence as part of national action
Reporting by Alec Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
