Several hundred John Marshall High School students in Cleveland staged a walkout Monday afternoon to protest gun violence in their community.
The protest comes as students say 12 Cleveland Metropolitan School District students have been shot and killed this school year alone. A student read their names out in the cafeteria after the walkout as a series of speakers demanded action from lawmakers.
Students chanted “Protect kids, not guns” as they walked around their school and carried signs with statements like “thoughts and prayers aren’t enough.”
John Marshall sophomore Randall Henry said his aunt and her boyfriend were shot and killed while waiting at a red light, while his little cousins were in the car. He also lost his close friend.
“He was loved by many, and he was walking to school, and he was shot a couple of feet away from his school, which was Rhodes High School,” he said. “This incident traumatized me and left his mother, brother, family and friends hurt.”
A handful of other students also testified, sharing anonymous testimony of cousins, uncles, mothers and fathers being shot and killed, or otherwise witnessing people being shot and killed in front of them and being traumatized by the sight. Some said they were scared to walk to school or to go outside in their neighborhoods.
Michelle Bell, with M-PAC Cleveland, an advocacy organization meant to help families deal with the grief of the murder of a loved one, said her son was shot and killed in 2019 while sitting in his car with his friend, a double homicide that’s never been solved.
"He had a big smile, a big heart, and he was generally the person bringing the laughter,” she said. “And although I had so many great, fond memories of his joy, compassion and laughter, I am ever so haunted by that split second event, that senseless event of gun violence that ended his life and changed my life forever.”
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb came to the walkout and also came up to the podium to offer some words of encouragement to the students. He suggested the juniors and seniors who were of age, or will soon be, to get registered to vote.
“Because in 2024, we can elect members of Congress in D.C. to pass background checks, to pass red flag laws, and to … have an assault weapon ban in Congress,” he said.
Outside of registering to vote, speakers encouraged students to continue speaking out with protests and by writing letters to elected officials while showing up to community meetings. Bell also said gun violence should be declared a public health crisis by local and national leaders.
The event was put on with support from John Marshall's administration and teachers, and was organized by participants in the district's Civics 2.0 civic-engagement program.
