March 2, 2018
I was one of the students participating in the student walk out on Tuesday, February 27 to protest the lack of safety in schools. I had never been a part of a protest, and as a result, I had no idea what to expect. One of the aspects of the walkout that I was both excited and scared about was the threat of counter protesters. I was worried that the counter protesters would be violent and be there simply to irritate the protesters. This got to a point where students were warned not to engage counter protesters.
My first exposure to the counter protesters was while we were still at Fossil Ridge High School. As the students received our debriefing for the protest, I watched as trucks drove one after another around the parking lot, hoisting American flags on the back. This caused me to believe that they could potentially be a problem at the walk out. When I arrived at Old Town Square, I didn’t see any counter protesters initially, but halfway through the chanting and remembrance of the students lost in Florida, I began to see people holding pro-gun signs trickling by the protestors. They didn’t seem to do anything, but began to form as a group towards the back of the protesters. As the walk out dispersed at the end of the hour, these counter-protesters began to chant pro-gun slogans, such as “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” while walk out students began chanting back at the counter protesters. When the protest was over, they also took the stage and began cheering as well.
During the protest, I had initially found them to be an irritant, as I had originally believed they had no right to be there fighting for gun rights. After the protest, I reflected on these counter protesters, and having time to think about their actions, I found that the counter protesters were not being violent or a nuisance; they were simply stating their point of view.
The main purpose of the event was to protest the lack of school safety across the nation and to promote more laws protecting students in schools. One of the main points brought up by protesters was the lack of gun control resulting in the lack of school safety. Some would contend that the counter protesters were against school safety; however, that was not why they were there. At the protest, they were holding pro-gun posters. According to Collen Brown, one of the counter protestors at the event, “we were not against school safety, but we wanted to express our opinion that guns aren’t the main problem in the school shootings.”
Another problem that I was expecting was for the counter protesters to be violent and simply there to create problems for the protestors. However, this did not turn out to be the case. According to Brown, “our goal was to raise awareness for guns. We weren’t out to start a fight, we just wanted to state our opinion, and for me, I wanted to show the other side of the story.” In the end, they were there to simply state their opinion rather than create trouble, contrary to what many people were expecting.
Though many people disliked the opinions expressed by the counter protesters, it did not end up negatively affecting the walk out. By the counter protesters being there agreeing with the overall message of the walk out, I believe they still benefited the walk out. Sure, they might have argued about gun rights, but they were still against school shootings and the misuse of guns. After reflecting on this topic, I came to the conclusion that these counter protesters did exactly what the students participating in the student walk out did: they left school and protested to send a message to the world. And why should anybody hinder their ability to do so?
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