Kids Lead the Way at Guilford March for Our Lives

From the stage, State Rep. Lonnie Reed of Branford took in the huge crowd at Saturday’s ​“March for Our Lives” on the Guilford green. She served as emcee for the event. ​“It looks like Woodstock,” she said.

“You all look beautiful!” Reed (pictured) declared.

Along the shoreline, the focus of the march was Guilford, where some 2,000 people packed the green for a day of powerful words and music that was as poignant as it was uplifting.

“Never Again!” and ​“Enough is Enough!” were shouted throughout the world as millions of people gathered at 800 events to call for stricter gun control legislation at Saturday’s ​“March For Our Lives.” The numbers say it all: up to 800,000 in Washington, D.C.; 175,000 in New York City 10,000 to 15,000 in Hartford. Marches were held in every state in the U.S.

Parents, grandparents, toddlers, politicians, and even dogs mingled and displayed signs, but it was the teenagers who carried the day, speaking for those whose voices were silenced due to gun violence. The impetus, of course, was the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Seventeen students and teachers were killed.

They performed music. They read poems. They held signs.They spoke from their hearts with a wisdom and force that belied their youth.

The Guilford march was organized by Frank Blackwell (pictured), a Guilford-based photographer, writer, and corporate filmmaker, and came together rapidly through social media in the weeks after the shooting. A parade route was organized, speakers and musicians including state and U.S. representatives, funds were raised, permits obtained, and police presence secured.

Ella Fronzoni (pictured), a senior at Clinton High School, said that since she was born on Sept. 2, 2000, there have been 194 school shootings. She said that people have become desensitized to the shootings and to the inaction of officials and business leaders. ​“This stops now!” she said. ​“The mass shooting generation will soon be a voting generation and we will make sure that any elected official now or forever more who chooses inaction over the safety of our nation’s youth will never hold an elected office again.” 

Grace McFadden (pictured) of Daniel Hand High School in Madison read a powerful poem written by a Parkland student after the shooting… ​“The kids get murdered and no one shuns…I turn to our absent president. Will he do something about 2,647 kids dead? No, because he’s just as messed up in the head…. Our generation is here and we’re tired of living in fear.”

And then they left to march, accompanied by Amazing Grace sung by the Guilford High School singers.

Erin Harmon Vazquez (pictured) performed ​“Times They Are A‑Changin’” adding a new verse for the occasion. Bob Dylan, an activist himself, would be proud.

Michelle Ober (pictured) of Adams Middle School in Guilford read her passionate speech, which wasn’t upbeat enough to be read at a school assembly. She asked the hard questions: ​“How many lives have to be lost before things change? How long do children have to grow up knowing that a shooter could come into their school and hurt them at any time?” How many children have to die before we start talking to our students…?”

She encouraged people to reach out, to make a difference in the life of one person. ​“A moment of kindness may not mean anything at the time, but it will reverberate through the recipients for years.

“We the students may not be 100 percent of the population, but we are 100 percent of the nation’s future,” she concluded.

Guilford High School senior Christian Pfeiffer said he was angry that parents are having to bulletproof backpacks for their kids, that schools are considering bullet-proof whiteboards, that teachers are deciding whether their professional lives should include carrying handguns, that these hoards have taken away our innocence. He likened schools to war zones. ​“Students have lost all sense of safety in our cherished places,” he said. Pfeiffer made it personal, describing when his brother told him about Sandy Hook and made him promise that if he heard anything strange, he would run, get out of the building as fast as he could.

James Hyman and Olivia Clark thanked the students who traveled to represent them in Washington, D.C.

Legislators Add Their Voices

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy {pictured) said, ​“it moves me to tears that young people are forced to raise their voices when the adults that are supposed to be protecting them are not stepping up…” He told of his 6‑year-old son’s experience at being packed into a small bathroom with 25 other kids during his first active shooter drill. He said to Murphy, ​“Daddy, I didn’t like this.” He encouraged the crowd to hold politicians accountable or vote them out. He said the Connecticut’s gun legislation has ​“shown the way forward” for the rest of the country.

State Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr. (pictured) described how gun violence touched his family. ​“My family has been impacted by gun violence in a very public way… two of my uncles were murdered in broad daylight and I have to relive those moments.” He was referring to President John F. Kennedy and his uncle Bobby Kennedy. He said he understands when the families from Sandy Hook have to relive those moments again and again. ​“When it happens in schools around the country, it’s a wound that will not heal… it will never heal unless we the people demand commonsense gun reform. He added that the voice of people marching across the country were more powerful than the money of the NRA.

State Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, a Republican voice, said she was proud of the gun legislation passed after Sandy Hook. ​“What happened in Hartford showed that in a bipartisan manner we can come together and have commonsense laws that protect all of us, especially our children.”

State Rep. Sean Scanlon (pictured) encouraged the 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote, party doesn’t matter. ​“Young people are going to change this country.” He said he met with the organizers prior to the march and was confronted by a Guilford sophomore, who said, ​“I am afraid that when I am going to school I will be shot.” He said that something is wrong when people feel like that….“something is wrong when a political organization stops commonsense things that almost 80 or 90 percent of the people support because of the donations that they have given to politicians.” He added that it’s hard for anyone to understand why things don’t change. He vowed to stand with the people for the fight… ​“Never again!”

Afterwards some of the legislators gathered nearby.

Clergy Weigh In

Rev. Todd Vedder of the First Congregational Church, Madison, and daughter Holly took the stage when the marchers returned. ​“Our voices have had their day… It is time for us to pay attention to the younger voices and to give them their freedom to speak and to act because we should be grateful to be here for their leadership.”

Rev. Ginger Brasher-Cunningham, First Congregational Church, Guilford, ​“We actually have police and politicians who serve the people…” She praised the group of Guilford teens who left at 3 a.m. to join the march in Washington, D.C. ​“We are a fortunate people…however, with our good fortune we’ve experienced the piercing sorrow of gun violence.” 

Rev. Sharon Grace of Trinity Episcopal Church in Branford also attended the March.

And then there were the signs. They were everywhere.

They were carried by teens, of course…

Grandparents…

Little kids…

Bigger Kids

The day closed out with a performance by Mike Song, who lost his son Ethan to an accidental shooting in January. Song has created an organization with the help of a ​“dream team” to help keep kids safe. He thanked the crowd and Frank Blackwell before he shared a Bob Marley song, the last before he died, ​“Redemption Song.”

Be sure to check out The Branford Eagle’s Facebook page for additional photos and commentary.

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