The ring of student protesters swelled as teens from another school joined the group at Terry Schrunk Plaza yesterday afternoon.
“What do we need?” NWA junior Evan Gray-Williams called into a megaphone.
“Gun control!” rang the fervent voices of nearly 200 students gathered on the red-brick steps of the plaza.
The gun control walkout, organized by Northwest Academy students Gray-Williams and Raine Conley, an eighth grader, with help from peers from other schools, was a congregation of students from several schools in the Portland metro area. The walkout was partly in response to the Covenant School shooting that took place on March 27 in Nashville, TN. The protesters marched for heightened gun control policies, calling on the federal government to take action against the National Rifle Association.
The protest began at Terry Schrunk Plaza, where several students — organizers and others — delivered speeches calling out government policy-makers for failing to prevent school shootings, which occur at high rates in the United States. According to worldpopulationreview.com, the U.S. experienced nearly 300 school shootings between 2009-2018 — 36 times the amount of the next closest country, Mexico.
After the speeches were delivered, the march continued to Portland City Hall, where protesters assembled in front of the entrance amid chants of “no more silence, end gun violence!” and “our blood, your hands!”
Some protesters banged on the doors of the building, demanding entry, but walkout organizers intervened and dissuaded them from engaging in illegal behavior. Others scaled the walls of the building, only to resume chanting with renewed vigor. The assembly concluded with a handful of speakers. The sheer magnitude of the march attracted the attention of local media; Oregon Public Broadcasting published this article about the protest featuring Northwest Academy students mere hours after the walkout had ended.
Along the way, an altercation occurred between protesters and three counter protesters. The incident was quickly deescalated by student organizers and fellow protesters. However, one counter protester suffered injuries to the head and face by several non-Northwest Academy protesters, causing minor injuries.
Later in the march, Northwest Academy student El Hardison, a junior, was punched in the mouth by a student from another school in a conflict that arose from homophobic and fatphobic comments that the student made. By her testimony, Hardison approached the individual among a group of students who were making disrespectful comments about victims of school shootings.
“[They were] targeting groups like queer people and women, and saying things like ‘kill the fat hoes,’” said Hardison.
She accosted the group, telling them they shouldn’t be there if they weren’t going to help the cause.
“And one of them said, ‘You’re just mad because you’re the fat ho,’” said Hardison. “But it was my fault because I didn’t deescalate the situation.”
Hardison emerged with a busted lip and a bruise. She’s grateful that her friends were there to support and back her up, but she’s more concerned about how such events detracted from the purpose of the walkout.
“It was just frustrating to have the attention shifted off of the real issue, and onto something childish and stupid,” she said.
Gray-Williams said that the result may not be a drastic change in federal or state policy, but physical marches and protests are a step in the right direction.
“I think [online and social media activism] is an important facet when it comes to modern-day activism,” he said, “[but] nobody’s going to report on someone resharing a gun-control meme 100 times. One hundred people actually standing there, protesting, raising their voices together and fighting for what they believe in, that’s something that gets a lot more attention.”
To see a video from the march go here.
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