Massive Student Walkouts Are Happening All Around The Country Today

14Mar
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

I want to take a moment this morning to the applaud the courageous young people that are participating in the mass walkouts from high schools and colleges across the country. You cannot turn on your television without seeing the faces of these young people determined to be heard.

The mass walkouts were precipitated by the recent mass shootings at  Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when a group of fierce students, including Emma Gonzalez, called BS on the lack of political will to ban assault rifles in the name of saving student lives

Some walkout protests are including 17 empty chairs in honor of the recent Florida school shooting which took the lives of 17 students and staff. Chanting, “We Want Change” and “We Will No Longer Be Silent” students all over the country are demanding to be taken seriously and promising to vote out elected leaders that ignore them.  Armed with the right to vote in the 2018 elections, these kids are also making sure they and all their classmates register to vote.  In 2000, a total of four million children were born in the United States, most will be eligible to vote in 2018 and all will be eligible for the 2020 election. These are the kids who grew up after Columbine and have not known a time when school shootings were not a “thing.”

We wish them Godspeed and safe protesting as they continue in their endeavor to force politicians to address the gun epidemic in this country and the ongoing slaughter of children in their schools, their churches, the streets and everywhere else in America. If you see kids in the streets protesting today, please proceed with caution and help kids stay safe.

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Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Leticia Chavez-Garcia is a Mother, Grandmother, former Middle School Teacher, former Member of a School Board of Education and an Education Advocate for hundreds of parents and students in the Inland Empire. Having become a mother at 15, Leticia knows what it’s like to be a single mother trying to navigate the education system. Leticia received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters’ Degree in Education Technology from Cal State Fullerton in her 30’s. Leticia has used her knowledge and experience to help hundreds of families as an Education Advocate in the Inland Empire and currently works as an Education Specialist.

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