ANN ARBOR – Pioneer High School's parking lot was transformed Saturday morning as waves of people descended on the site to take part in Ann Arbor's "March for Our Lives."
Ann Arbor was just one of hundreds of cities and towns participating in the nationally organized march.
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Members of the community held up handwritten picket signs, protesting gun violence and calling for an end to mass shootings.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
The march was sparked by students who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, which took the lives of 17 students, teachers and coaches.
In Ann Arbor, a live band performed as the crowd thickened, and several speeches were given, culminating in a march around campus and on city streets.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"I raised my kids here," educator and Ann Arbor mom Shelly Schreier told A4. "I care about this community. I care about our country. I’m so proud of the kids that have put this together. I’m an educator. I believe in the importance of helping promote the ability to learn in a situation where you can thrive and these kids deserve the opportunity to do that."
Shelly Schreier supporting the group Moms Demand Action (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"Not only is this community, but communities across the country and across the world are coming together saying, ‘We need common sense gun laws.’ That’s the most important thing," Schreier said.
On the podium, one of the first speakers was Mary Voorhorst, a 10th-grade English teacher and a born and raised Ann Arborite.
She recently underwent active shooter training at her school.
"On my second day of student teaching, I confronted my own mortality. There are several standard lines of questioning that all teachers are faced with such as, 'Are you willing and prepared to be desperately overworked and woefully underpaid? Are you willing and prepared to go for months without receiving any affirmation or thanks?'
10th-grade English teacher Mary Voorhorst speaks at the rally (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Students pose in front of Ann Arbor Pioneer High School (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"But after that training, all of the teachers were forced to answer these questions instead: ‘Are you willing and prepared to not cower when the gunshots begin? Are you willing and prepared to die protecting them? And teachers nationwide who’ve been presented with this say, 'Yes, I will die for them. I will accept that risk.' As teachers, our job includes insuring the safety of our students and giving all we have to prevent their lives being stolen from them. What is not our job is to carry a gun and take the life of another human being."
Dr. Omkar Karthikeyan speaks as his young daughter watches on (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Survivor of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting on Oct. 1 and Ypsilanti native Liana Treviño also spoke.
"You know that casinos are loud and active, so when I heard the shooting I didn’t think anything of it," she said, pausing often. "I thought it was coming from a nearby bar, but when I saw the group of people running and yelling 'There’s a shooter!' I ran and I ran waiting for those bullets to come. And I hid in that room for I don’t know how long. There were people crying, trying to find their loved ones. Six hours I was separated from my loved ones.
Survivor of the Las Vegas shooting, Liana Treviño, addresses the crowd (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"We have the right to go to concerts, to go to the dance clubs, to go to church, to go to the movies, to go to schools and not have to fear that someone’s going to walk in there with an AR-15 rifle and take our lives or the lives of the people we love."
State Representative Yousef Rabhi delivers a short and fiery address (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Last to speak was congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who shared a personal story with connection to gun violence.
"We’ve heard the words, and the time is now for action," she said. "You know, this is a subject that is very personal to me. I know what it’s like to keep someone from shooting their mother. I know what it’s like to hide in that closet and I don’t want any young person to have to hide and to pray to God that I would live through the night and my brother and sister would be okay.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell shares a personal story (Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
"And you know what? I called the police and they didn’t come. And we didn’t talk about it. We were embarrassed back then. We had no power of words. And I was embarrassed for years to admit that I had lived in a home that that had happened in, because there was so much power of that gun. That fear and that anxiety has never left my heart. My baby sister was never okay. She ultimately died of a drug overdose. But we have to do something about guns. We have to get them away from people who should not have access to a gun," said Dingell.
(Photo: Meredith Bruckner)
Shortly after Dingell's address the crowd gathered to march around the grounds at Pioneer High School and continued down Stadium Boulevard.