Collette Aldrich wanted the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., to know they were not alone.
On Feb. 18, just four days after a shooting rampage at the Florida school left 17 dead and reignited a fresh debate over America’s gun laws, Aldrich and a small group of friends and family members decided Malibu students should stand in solidarity. On Tuesday, the group met to plan the event. On Sunday, hundreds of community members—led by Malibu schoolkids—marched from the east end of Zuma Beach to Malibu High School and held a rally against gun violence.
“We were really not sure how many people we’d reached out to,” Aldrich, a junior at Malibu High School, said in an interview with The Malibu Times. “We had an estimate of maybe 100 people showing up, and we think it was closer to 700 people who were there. One news source said it was a thousand.”
Aldrich, a key organizer of the event, also served as master of ceremonies, greeting the crowd in the Malibu High School parking lot and introducing various speakers—all of them area kids from local schools.
“I am here to say, we are mad as hell and this time it’s going to stop,” Aldrich said at the rally. “No longer can we protect our guns instead of protecting our children.”
Following the violent attack in Florida, students across the country have begun rallying and organizing for what they call smarter gun laws, many inspired by their fellow students in Parkland.
The number of teens suddenly becoming outspoken on social media (and traditional media) platforms has some adults skeptical as to whether these kids are merely a mouthpiece for their parents’ political views.
“My mom actually didn’t say anything to me about it,” Aldrich said when asked what she would say to skeptics. “I subscribe to CNN and The Washington Post and the New York Times on my own, because I’ve taken that role on, myself.”
The rally involved a stunning recitation of poet In-Q’s “The Wrong Side of History,” performed by MHS junior William Hammond.
“Where do we draw the line?” the poem asks, “When do we grow a spine and stop using the Second Amendment to hide behind?”
There was also an original song by MHS freshman William Thonson and powerful speeches by many students whose ages ranged from third grade through high school seniors, including Bridget Kennedy-Bailey, granddaughter of Robert Kennedy, who quoted from his iconic “Ripple of Hope” speech: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other, from millions of different centers of energy across the world, these ripples build a [current], and together they can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
“All of us here today have the power to create change,” Kennedy-Bailey, an eighth grader at Crossroads School, added. “We cannot give up, we must stand together. We must sweep down this great wall which has cast down its shadow upon us for long enough. Enough is enough.”
Aldrich’s call to action at the end of the rally was also a bleak reminder of how young the organizers of the rally truly are.
“Those of you who are able to vote—vote,” Aldrich said, later adding, “If you’re 17 but will be 18 before the November election, or can vote in the June primary, preregister to vote.”
Aldrich also provided the phone number to the U.S. Capitol switchboard—202.224.3121—and urged those gathered to call their representatives.
Additionally, she asked marchers to investigate what companies maintain ties to the National Rifle Association and asked that they “boycott corporations that receive funding from the NRA.”
At each suggestion, the crowd roared its approval.
Dozens of attendees signed their names on email lists asking to be updated on upcoming events. All this, Aldrich said, came from her feeling of solidarity with the students in Florida.
“It broke my heart,” Aldrich told The Malibu Times. “I actually watched Emma González’s speech and she really inspired me.”
González, a student at Stoneman Douglas, has emerged as a student leader in the political force fighting for stiffer gun control. Her Twitter account—created just one week ago—already boasts more than 1.1 million followers.
According to her Twitter bio, González is rallying students to join a “March for Our Lives” on March 24—also a goal of Aldrich’s.
“I’m going to help with the March 14 walkout at our school, and I’m going to encourage the students at Malibu High School to participate in the satellite march in LA on the 24th,” Aldrich said, “and then I think just bringing awareness and having it come from the students is the most important thing right now, because it is affecting us the most.”
The walkout planned for March 14 has also made headlines, with some school districts threatening to suspend students who participate in the event.
Malibu school administrators released a letter from Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati that appeared to support students planning to join the demonstrations.
“We want to let students, parents and community members know that we respect our students’ rights to engage in civic discourse in a safe and productive manner,” Drati’s letter stated. It added that “age-appropriate activities” were to be planned on campus to coincide with the dates.
