Oskaloosa Students Walk Out To Remember Victims Of School Shootings

Students from Oskaloosa High School walk out on Friday, April 20, 2018 to remember those killed in school shootings.

Students from Oskaloosa High School walk out on Friday, April 20, 2018 to remember those killed in school shootings.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Shortly after 10 am on Friday morning, approximately 75 students from the Oskaloosa High School walked out of class to raise awareness of gun violence in schools.

The group walked out the front door of the high school towards 3rd Street, then made their way to the flag pole in front of George Daily Auditorium.

Once there, the group was joined by approximately ten students from the middle school.

The group observed 13 seconds of silence to remember the victims of Columbine, and then students spoke their thoughts about school violence and the 2nd Amendment.

The gathering concluded with remembering the victims of Parkland, Florida. Students held signs with the names of the victims.

The student organizers asked those assembled what they believed could be done to make things better “so we don’t have more people dying.”

“We don’t need any more people dying. I’m sick and tired of feeling like I’m going to be a statistic. I don’t know about you, but if I see any more school shootings, I don’t know if I can handle it,” expressed student organizer Tristin Delaney. “People care about our future. They care that we get to live and get an education. We shouldn’t have to worry about dying. We should have to worry about our grades, not if we’re going to die.”

Maddie Hamilton spoke up, encouraging others to help cheer their peers up. “Make them feel good, because we all have these times in our lives where we’re sad or depressed. I feel like we need to be here for each other because we’re all one big family. We’re not all against each other; we are all together.”

Hamilton didn’t know she was going to participate until about 30 minutes beforehand. “I wasn’t even going to do it.”

“It was important because I was walking out for those who couldn’t. I walked out for my classmates who couldn’t walkout, maybe because of parents not allowing it to happen, or them being afraid of bullying. I was also walking out for the kids and adults who died because of the school shooting,” added Hamilton.

Another student holding a sign spoke about the various ages of the victims, “you may think, oh it won’t happen to us. We’re just small town Oskaloosa. There’s no reason it would happen to us. But these people didn’t think it would happen to them either.”

The student organizer said, “basically, I got death threats” due to organizing the walkout. “I got told not to do this. I got told, teaching students to walk out doesn’t teach them anything. You know, the school shootings did not happen out of class.”

“People died during class,” Delaney continued. “We should be able to walk out if we feel the need to. If we feel like we need to show that we don’t want to die, we should be able to .”

Another student implored her peers to go back inside the school if they felt as though the walkout was a joke or an excuse to leave class. “Because this is serious. It’s absolutely horrible that you could be in class one day and end up dead in a place you thought you were safe, where people are supposed to support you, and then it all just ends right there. That’s not right.”

“The people that we’re talking about, that lost their lives, aren’t just people. They’re moms, sisters, daughters, brothers. So say their names, they’re not just people. Meadow Pollack lost her life”, said Kinsey Cook.

“It was important for me to take part to honor the lives of all staff and children lost in school shootings and raise awareness of the issue. Admittedly many students in our school, including me, have thought about what they would do if a school shooter ever came to Oskaloosa. I have thought so many times about where I would go and what I would do. I don’t think that children or staff members should have to think about an escape plan in a space that is supposed to be safe,” added Cook.

The other students holding signs with the names of students then spoke those names out loud.

Maddie Hamilton became emotional sharing her thoughts about those lost to gun violence in schools.

Maddie Hamilton became emotional sharing her thoughts about those lost to gun violence in schools.

After saying the name of Helena Ramsey, OHS student Maddie Hamilton became emotional. “She has no future. She’s done because of this.”

“When the 2nd Amendment was written, it was 1789. The most powerful firearm was a musket that took about a minute to reload. The way it [2nd Amendment] was written was not intended for the purposes of today with assault rifles. There should be a ban on those kind of weaponry. No civilian needs military grade weaponry or ammunition. That is ridiculous. It is not necessary for hunting or any purpose. A civilian shouldn’t have these kinds of weapons, and our mental background checks are failing quite severely; and it’s very obvious,” said another OHS student.

As students returned back to class, they chanted “enough is enough” saying they want safety. As they entered the door to the high school, a chant of “books not bullets” went up.

Oskaloosa news spoke with Hamilton afterward. She spoke about her emotional speech to her fellow students. “I was emotional because I saw Helena Ramsey’s name and she was only 17. A year older than me. If I went to that school, she might’ve been my best friend, or even me.”

“I was researching her, and she died protecting another student. I was crying because she never went to college, she’ll never see her family on this earth again. I can’t even imagine the lives she affected. She could’ve cured cancer, solved world peace, taught children, and so much more. She never got to live her full potential in life, because her life was stopped short by a gunman who entered her school,” added Hamilton.

On the sharp criticism being shared on social media over the students walkout, Hamilton said, “Grown adults are actually harassing kids after half of them just said we were the harassers. Also, people in my school have been calling us derogatory names, and it’s horrible to see. Lots of people think we’re trying to take away the 2nd amendment and that’s not true. I marched, and I have weapons in my house and have no problem with them. I don’t want them to remove anything. I just want people to love each other; to actually care about one another. All of this hate everyone is sparking from both sides will not solve the problem. This will only make it worse for everyone.”

Cook also took to social media after the walkout. “I did not hesitate to comment on social media even though the comments were heated, ugly, and some — hurtful. I wanted to inform the public of
what we were actually doing by participating in the nationwide march because there were countless misconceptions. Many thought that our peaceful march was a rally against the 2nd amendment. Many people also thought that we were just a bunch of kids skipping class to talk about how “we want to take away their guns.” The intention of the march was very far from any of those things.”

“Students who did not participate in the march, which was the majority of the school, continued with class as usual, while the students who did choose to participate were gone. I do think that
there are ways that people can come together to solve this issue. The first step to fixing this epidemic is recognizing that there is a problem. Kids are speaking up all across the country, and it is
grabbing the attention, positive or negative, of adults and legislatures everywhere,” added Cook.

“Personally I think there are many things that can be done to prevent mass school shootings. The first of which would be better access to mental health care, in not only Iowa but the United States as a whole. I also think that we should restrict access to guns of those with a history of mental health issues, and domestic violence,” said Cook.

“This march was for the remembrance of everyone who died in school shootings and [to] start bringing awareness to the effect of school shootings. Not to take anything away, I know for a fact, every day I always see how I can make people feel better. I don’t understand why we all deserve this type of treatment at school and real life,” said Hamilton in conclusion.

“The final thing I would also like everyone to remember is that a lot of the kids who marched, such as myself, will be able to vote in many upcoming elections. Just because we are young does not mean we are misinformed, or don’t care about the political well being of this country. Young people are the future, and I personally think that children and young adults being politically active is immensely important to the well being of this country in the future,” added Cook.

Posted by on Apr 22 2018. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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