'This is just the start': Thousands of Richmond-area students walk out of school to protest gun violence

Her eighth-grade brother will attend the school where she’s a senior next year with hopes of attending the United States Military Academy at West Point. She read the name of Peter Wang, a 15-year-old victim of the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and a former member of the school’s JROTC program.

Reading his name moved her to tears, thinking about the similarities of her brother and a student she never knew – but one she’s come to love as she mourns the 17 Parkland victims while advocating for change to the country’s – and state’s – gun laws in hopes that no student will die in a school shooting again.

“I couldn’t help but see my brother in his shoes,” she said. “The fact that this could happen to people just for going to school, getting an education, is unconscionable.”

Qian was one of hundreds of students across the Richmond region who walked out of their classes at 10 a.m. Wednesday, a month after the mass shooting at the Florida high school, to call on lawmakers to take action against the gun violence that continues to claim so many lives in the U.S.

At some schools across the country, students didn't go outside but lined the hallways, gathered in gyms and auditoriums or wore orange, the color used by the movement against gun violence, or maroon, the school color at Stoneman Douglas.

More than 2,000 high-school age protesters in Washington, D.C., observed the 17 minutes of silence by sitting on the ground with their backs turned to the White House as a church bell tolled. President Donald Trump was in Los Angeles.

Historians said the demonstrations were shaping up to be one of the largest youth protests in decades.

"It seems like it's going to be the biggest youth-oriented and youth-organized protest movements going back decades, to the early '70s at least," said David Farber a history professor at the University of Kansas who has studied social change movements.

He added: "Young people are that social media generation, and it's easy to mobilize them in a way that it probably hadn't been even 10 years ago."

Organizers of the Richmond walkouts used various social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – to mobilize their peers for the walkouts, which lasted 17 minutes, one minute for each Parkland victim. At Maggie Walker, a regional magnet school in Richmond that enrolls students from 12 area school divisions, students filled the steps at the front entrance of the school.

A group of 17 students – led by junior Adam Sachs – read the names of the victims and a brief biography. They held a moment of silence before returning inside the school.

“We’re part of a movement of people frankly fed up with inaction,” Sachs said.

***

Across the U.S., more than 2,500 walkouts were scheduled. In the Richmond area, about 20 walkouts were formally planned through the national network. Media access was limited across the region as school officials cited school safety for not allowing reporters on school grounds.

In Hanover County, participation varied dramatically at the county's schools.

At Atlee High School, less than 10 students very briefly stood outside, but quickly returned to the building after being approached by what appeared to be a school official.

At Hanover High, however, a group of several dozen students stood quietly around the flag pole for the full 17 minutes.

In Richmond, students walked out at Richmond Community High School, Thomas Jefferson High School and Huguenot High School, among others. Richmond Public Schools Superintendent Jason Kamras joined students at Huguenot.

At Saint Gertrude High School, a private all-girls school in Richmond, students wore orange armbands and pins in honor of the victims. Students walked out of school and around the Museum District block where the school is located. To end the walkout, students in the school’s chorus sang the hymn, “The Prayer for the Children.”

Henrico County high schools saw hundreds of students walk out across the county.

About a hundred students at Varina High School walked out into the front parking lot of the campus. They chanted “Guns are not cool/They don’t belong in school” as school officials looked on. Two police cars were on the scene and the entrance to the parking lot was blocked off. The students returned to class after about 20 minutes.

At Glen Allen High School, 611 students walked out and assembled on the football field, student organizer Patrick Wright said. A speech was given, followed by 17 students reading out the names and short bios of the victims from the Parkland shooting. A three-minute moment of silence was followed by a march in front of the school, Wright said. Wright said the students carried themselves respectfully and he didn’t know of any who were punished.

Highland Springs High School student Tyrone Nelson Jr. posted videos of him and a fellow student reading out the names of the Parkland shooting victims and led a moment of silence.

Students also walked out at schools in Powhatan County, Petersburg and Hopewell.

"There's a problem and something needs to change," said Hannah Ownby, a junior at Powhatan High School.

***

Aya Hibben was one metro stop away from the truck that ran over a crowd of people in Barcelona, Spain, last August. It was the first time the James River High School junior had been that close to “such evil.”

It made her realize that even she, a 17-year-old teenager from Chesterfield, isn’t immune to violence. When the Parkland shooting happened, she decided to do something.

“I feel like when I was little, and we had a lockdown, I said, ‘Whatever,’” Hibben said. “Now, I’m more uneasy when they happen. The reach of this issue has gone beyond one school.”

Hibben was overwhelmed when she saw hundreds of James River High students pouring out of class and onto the bus loop Wednesday to take part in the National Walk Out she helped organize.

“I started realizing how many students were leaving school, how big it was, and it was really powerful to see,” she said. “Sometimes it feels like we live in a divided world, but that made me feel like our students care.”

James River was one of five high schools and one middle school in Chesterfield that signed up for the walkouts on the national website. Organizers at Thomas Dale High School estimated about 500 students walked out of class, walked around the track, and held a moment of silence for the Parkland victims.

Hibben was surprised at the James River crowd because she heard mostly criticism in the days leading up to the event, even from some of her friends. They were critical of what the walkout could accomplish.

“That shows politicians that students care. If we had these kind of numbers when it was time to vote, then we could really change things,” Hibben said.

Of the 150 hand-made ribbons and 750 sticker ribbons organizers handed to participants, Bidden said the vast majority were gone. Hibben and her mother, Yuki, were hot-gluing the ribbons and making posters past midnight Tuesday.

Organizers stood on top of a tall podium, and spoke from a megaphone.

“It’s our job as the next generation to stand on the right side of history, to show the world that we cared,” Morgan Rhudy, 16, another walkout organizer, told the James River crowd.

Translating everything into Spanish, Speakers called on students who walked out of class Wednesday to “walk up tomorrow.” That meant sitting next to the student who may be sitting alone at the lunch table, calling legislators and the media, as well as supporting teachers who are increasingly having to act as protectors. They then named the Parkland victims, their ages, and when the students would have graduated.

Some held posters that read, “Never again” and “Protect Children from Guns.” Just before students returned to class, they chanted “never again.” As they headed back inside, organizers gave them action slips with the contact information of elected representatives.

Thomas Dale’s administration switched up the bell schedule to accommodate the walkout that drew an estimated 500, said Josie Laprad, a Thomas Dale walkout organizer. She called the walkout a huge success.

***

Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday morning that he supports the students walking out.

“I'm a firm believer in freedom of speech,” Northam said during a radio appearance on Richmond’s WRVA. “It's unfortunate that our youth should have to take action like this. That they should have to get up out of their classrooms and walk out to get the attention of policymakers like myself.”

The Republican-controlled General Assembly blocked several gun-control bills filed during the legislative session that ended Saturday. But with lawmakers returning to Richmond on April 11 for a special session to complete their work on the unfinished state budget, Northam has the option of sending down new gun legislation.

The governor indicated Wednesday that he won’t add a major push on gun reform to the already tense legislative battle over the budget and Medicaid expansion.

“We're focused right now on the budget for Virginia and that's what I really want our legislators focused on when they come back on April 11” Northam said.

The Republican-controlled House of Delegates has created a special committee on school safety that will explore ways to secure school buildings, but won’t focus on gun policy. The committee, which will make recommendations for the 2019 legislative session, is expected to hold its first meeting by May 1.

The Virginia Education Association announced earlier this week that it’s formed its own task force to study school safety. Unlike the House of Delegates committee, though, the task force will look at gun violence.

Members of the task force have not been named, but recommendations are expected by Aug. 31.

Wednesday’s walkouts were met with unsubstantiated threats at some schools.

Threats were made against two Chesterfield schools, prompting an evacuation at L.C. Bird High School. Police said a bomb threat was phoned into the school around 9 a.m., with the caller saying the bomb would go off shortly. A bomb did not go off.

At James River High School, a threatening message was found written on a bathroom wall. Authorities said it doesn’t appear the threat is credible.

In Goochland County, officials said a social media threat, which indicated that students who participated in the walkout would be shot, was not credible.

"There is no credible threat to our students or staff at this time," Goochland County Public Schools posted on Facebook Wednesday morning. "We have worked in collaboration with local law enforcement and first responders to develop a proactive safety plan that is in place to provide students a safe venue if they voluntarily choose to walk out today."

The walkouts Wednesday were the start of a scheduled string of gun violence activism from the region’s students. RPS has scheduled a march next Saturday starting at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School and a more extensive walkout is set for April 20.

As Emmaline Clark, a sophomore at Richmond Community High School, said, Wednesday was the beginning.

“There are so many things we can do and this is just the start,” she said.