Chicago ‘March For Our Lives’ Draws Tens of Thousands
Tens of thousands of people attended the March for Our Lives in Chicago Saturday, part of a nationwide series of rallies and marches to call attention to gun violence and demand stricter gun control regulations. Organizers estimated that some 85,000 people filled Union Park for a rally before the march began, which featured chants like “vote them out,” “16 shots and a cover up,” and “Rahm Emanuel’s got to go.” “I think the biggest thing is for the young generation, people my age, 17 and 18, to go out and vote, make their voices heard and elect officials who will make the changes that we need,” said Nathan Bryk, a 17-year-old Naperville Central High School student. Eduardo Medel, a student at Jones College Prep said that the event was larger than a one-day event. "This is not just a march, this is a movement," said Medel. "It's not us versus them... it's balancing the power that this democracy was founded on." Organizers in Chicago also wanted to make sure that their voices were heard at the main rally in Washington, D.C., and that the voices of youth of color who face gun violence daily in their communities were heard. “The Parkland kids, for them it was just that one moment and with us, every day someone dies,” Diamond Oscasio, a 16 year-old whose cousin was shot and killed, who traveled to Chicago, told PBS. “For us it’s forever, it has been forever.” (Sun-Times) (ABC) (Visu.News)