This weekend’s historic "March for Our Lives" rally saw hundreds of thousands of students gather from coast-to-coast and across the world in solidarity with students whose lives were cut short due to gun violence in their schools. This weekend, students from high schools across Kern County participated in Saturday’s rally that drew over 500 in attendance in west Bakersfield. FM 89’s Christina Lopez reports.
Hundreds of students from across Kern County high schools gathered along Truxtun Avenue for the March for Our Lives rally in Bakersfield.
The organizer behind Saturday’s rally was Jelena Herrera, a senior at Golden Valley High, who wants to stop living in fear each day she attends classes.
“I walk into school every day and I am scared, like, I don’t know if the next announcement is going to be a lockdown.”
Others, like Liberty High sophomore Nikolas Lopez, want politics cast aside in the gun debate at schools.
“No matter what your political views are that students are dying and there needs to be some form of change.”
Vanessa Aguilar, junior, Golden Valley: “I want gun reform. I want safer schools. I don’t want to wait until it’s my school.”
Zariyah Hall, senior, Golden Valley High: “I want better gun control because I’m tired of being in lockdowns. We are making a difference and finally, Congress, the Senate and everyone hear that we want change.”
With signs lifted, voices raised, and horns honking in support of gun reform in schools, the rally concluded with a streetside trumpet solo fitting for the times -- John Lennon’s “Imagine”.
