The group was small, but their voices were loud.
Although only about 20 Santa Maria Valley high school students gathered at the intersection of Clark Avenue and Bradley Road in Orcutt on April 20, the intimate local adaptation of another national gun violence protest made a striking impact.
As thousands of students at schools across the nation skipped class that day to call for gun policy reforms and commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, a few community members, including several local high school students, met after school at 3 p.m. to march.
A noon early-out at Santa Maria’s public schools that day was partially to blame for the small crowd, the students said, but those who did show up packed a punch. Holding posters splashed with now-familiar anti-gun violence slogans, the crowd marched around the busy intersection and energetically chanted, “Enough is enough!”
Later, protesters gathered on a corner where students equipped with megaphones shared their own personal experiences with gun violence, each illustrating the turbulent times today’s kids live in.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: Zander Moreno, a junior at Pioneer Valley High School, told protesters that gun violence overwhelmingly impacts the nation's teens, people of color, and LGBTQ+ community. He said between tears that he was proud to see so many of his "brown brothers and sisters" standing up to the violence that mostly affects America's most vulnerable demographics. "All the people that have died because of gun violence matter," Moreno said, "and I want y'all to know that."
SPEAKING OUT: Santa Maria High School junior Isabella Blanco said at the April 20 protest that gun violence personally affected her when two local students posted threats aimed at her high school to social media accounts on Feb. 16. Blanco, 16, said she and her sister spent that morning planning escape routes in case a shooting did take place. Blanco and her sister were just two of the 300 students pulled out of school by parents later that day. "We should have been studying," Blanco said, "but we were planning escape routes."
CALLING FOR CHANGE: Lupita Rios, a senior at Pioneer Valley High School, thanked her fellow protesters for showing up on an early-out Friday on April 20 and said, "I know sometimes it feels like we're the only ones who care." But Rios, 17, said the various marches and walkouts they've attended aren't just about school shootings. Local students, she said, are also protesting the gangs and resulting gun violence that have killed so many of Santa Maria's teens, many whom protesters knew personally. "This is not just for Parkland," Rios said, "but for all the kids we've lost in Santa Maria as well."
Staff Writer Kasey Bubnash can be reached at [email protected].
