Personal Narrative: My High School Walk-Out

I participated in my school walk-out last Friday. Like many of my peers, I have had enough of this senseless violence. When we chose to skip class and express our opinions, we knew there would be opposition. However, it didn’t come from where we thought it would. The administration at my high school was more than accommodating, and at the end of the walkout the words that best expressed the emotion my principal’s face was pride and hope for the future. Our opposition did not come from the adults at our school, instead it came from the student body itself. My high school is in the heart of suburban America. It is at least 80% white and almost the entire student body is middle to upper middle class. This subsect of the American population is

Many were dressed in American Flag regalia, holding up signs that said things like “DON’T TREAD ON ME” or “SHALL NOT INFRINGE”. When left the school to go to the football field where our walk out was held, members of the baseball team lined the hallways, clapping sarcastically and giving the students walking out menacing looks. When we got to the football field, I was overcome with a sense of pride for my school. Many kids who I had never expected to care about gun violence were sporting orange t-shirts and holding up signs bemoaning the catastrophic effects of gun violence. But my sense of pride was shattered when the speakers of the walk-out began. The group of counter-protestors congregated in the left of the field very close to the speakers. As I watched some of my best friends plead for our lawmakers to protect us, I saw the counter-protestors try to unplug their microphone, scream over the speeches, and use hateful slurs that should never be uttered by a human. After the speakers were finished, it only escalated, one counter-protestor started writing slurs on the posters my friends worked so hard to make, and ripped it in half. The “N-word” was thrown at African-American students who were trying to peacefully call to for an end to an epidemic that hurts their communities the most. These were not peaceful

Even two years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. I knew these boys when they were younger, and they weren’t like this. A few years ago, these boys had no idea what the second amendment was, let alone were they willing to risk being called the dirty word racist to defend it. But with the current administration, they know that they can spew this vitriolic hatred and not have to face the ostracism being of being called bigoted that they once had to confront. Telling these boys that they can act like this is the biggest betrayal to the youth of America that Trump has perpetrated. I am afraid for our future. I once thought that my generation could be the one to fix inequality but if this continues, my generation will only make it infinitely worse. I thought that the youth would be the ones to propel this country to a better future, but Trump and his hate have created an environment that will only cause the youth of today to become a hateful generation. As a white, heterosexual, middle class cis-gender, woman I feel unsafe in this environment. I cannot imagine what it is like for those that are less