Students walk out of schools across Nashville, demand gun reform in Covenant's wake
One week after six people were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, hundreds of high school students across Nashville walked out of their classrooms on Monday morning, joining parents and supporters to rally and demand gun reform.
The events occurred following a week of mourning, rallies and vigils. Three children and three adult staff members were killed in one of Tennessee's deadliest school shootings.
From the Capitol to Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet and Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet high schools, students walked out in protest or held classroom "walk-ins" where they expressed sorrow, disbelief and anger with educators.
Outside the Capitol, hundreds gathered in misting rain, chanting as they demanded state lawmakers to enact gun reform.
"Do your job!"
Several young people stood at the top of the steps inside the Capitol, overlooking a wave of protestors waiting to pass through security.
"What do we want? Gun control.
When do we want it? Now!"
Dozens entered the Cordell Hull legislative office building where students staged a sit-in outside the office of House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville).
They screamed.
Tennessee Highway Patrol shut the office doors.
“Kids are dying, do you care?”
They were joined by Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville), who is facing sanctions as severe as expulsion for leading protest chants Thursday from the House floor.
In the plaza outside the Capitol, Abigail Tylor, a Metro Nashville Public Schools board member, asked students to raise their hands if they remember a time before lockdown drills. Hardly anyone raised their hand.
“I am so sorry," said the Nashville native and graduate of Hume-Fogg High School. "But we’re here to remind them that you are worth protecting."
At 10:13 a.m. — roughly the same time the first 911 call came in about the shooting — protesters sat for a moment of silence. Some bowed their heads. Others clasped their hands in prayer.
The rally and student walkout was organized by March For Our Lives, a prominent national nonprofit advocating against gun violence.
On March 27, shooter Audrey Hale, 28, entered the school at about 10:11 a.m. opened fire, killing Mike Hill, 61, Cynthia Peak, 61 and Katherine Koonce, 60, along with 9-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney. Hale was shot and killed by responding officers about 15 minutes later. Video footage shows a timeline from when Hale first got to the school until police fired the fatal shots.
Gov. Bill Lee said Friday he would propose a measure to increase school security measures statewide. He also said he was open to considering something similar to red flag laws, which have been enacted in other states, including Florida.
Student protester: 'I'm tired'
At Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, some students attended the walkout while most others held a "walk-in" assembly.
At least 1,000 students and staff packed into the gym where student speakers took to the podium in front of six chairs with white bows — one for each victim of the Covenant shooting.
As student Trey Madison read an original poem, students lit six candles.
"I'm tired," Madison began. "I'm tired of turning on the news and seeing another bloody massacre that could've been stopped."
The poem repeatedly called for action.
"The ball is in our court for as long as the bullet is still in the chamber," Madison continued.
"Do not let those precious children have died for nothing. Do not let those selfless teachers have died for nothing."
At Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School, a group of about 30 students gathered for a planned walkout, many of them wearing red in honor of the Covenant School victims.
One student organizer, Wyatt Bassow, took his shirt one step further by adding a phrase on his back.
“I don’t want to be your statistic.”
Hundreds agreed.
“In our age range, the number once cause of death is not car accidents, but homicides by guns," said student Nathan DeWitt. "I'm afraid to be out here and going to school in this country where guns are so easy to access."
At Hillsboro High School, students filled the auditorium for a PowerPoint showing the message: #ProtectOurStudents. Students, both on stage and in the audience, wore bright red shirts for the six victims.
Parents call for change
Last week, Leeron Stark Resnick struggled to tell her son about the Covenant School shooting when he asked what happened.
Monday morning, she was one of the parents at the Capitol supporting stricter gun laws. "We’re here so they see how many people are supporting protecting our kids," she said. "They need to see the faces of the kids who are scared for their lives."
It wasn't that long ago Stark Resnick watched news reports about the Sandy Hook shooting with a newborn in her arms.
“Almost 11 years later," she said. "This is still happening.”
Samantha Williams and Brian F. Williams attended the protests with their two children, ages 11 and 15. Their kids did not attend MNPS schools on Monday in favor of showing up at the Capitol.
“I was so inspired by what I saw on Thursday,” Brian F. Williams said of last week's protests in the Capitol, where more than 1,000 demonstrators flooded in, lining the hallways as they chanted "gun reform now."
"Our daughter really pushed us to come today."
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Covenant School: Protests held a week after deadly Nashville shooting
