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BY HILLARY VIDERS
SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Englewood, New Jersey — Close to 1,000 people of all ages marched in Englewood on March 24, joining an estimated 800,000 “March For Our Lives” participants in Washington, D.C. and other cities around the country in calling for tighter gun controls following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
That sentiment was echoed in communities from coast to coast, with massive demonstrations in New York, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and many other U.S. cities large and small. According to the March for Our Lives website, more than 800 marches took place around the world.
Amongst other measures to end school violence, March for Our Lives supports a ban on AR-15 and other assault rifles, a ban on bump stocks and the implementation of universal background checks.
In New Jersey, large crowds participated in student-led marches in Englewood, Hackensack, Newark, Woodland Park, Montclair, Morristown and Red Bank.
Scope of the issue and the local response
An ongoing Washington Post analysis reports that more than 150,000 students attending at least 170 primary or secondary schools have experienced a shooting on campus since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. That figure, which comes from a review of online archives, state and federal enrollment figures, and news stories, is a conservative calculation and does not include dozens of suicides, accidents and after-school assaults that have also exposed youths to gunfire.
“As an elected official and a mother of four school-age children, I believe that it is past time that we take action to protect our children from school shootings and make sure every child has a safe learning environment,” said Englewood Councilwoman Cheryl Rosenberg, who organized the Englewood march.
Christian Bjorklund, who has relatives in Demarest, traveled all the way from Copenhagen to the Englewood march.
“I followed the shootings in the United States for the last 10 years and I just don’t understand it. In Denmark, we have never had school shootings and people do not have access to assault rifles. Danes think that what is happening here in the United States is shocking and deplorable,” Bjorklund said.
The large crowd marched up Palisade Avenue to the municipal court house on South Van Brunt Street. Participants ranged in age from toddlers to seniors, many holding signs with vivid messages, such as “PTA, not NRA,” “Save kids, not guns!” “Will I be next?” “I am not a target!” and “Guns do kill!”
Katie Vinson, who attends Northern Valley High School at Demarest, said, “Kids like me are dying, so I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
Moderated by Englewood Council President Wayne Hamer, impassioned speeches were made by Englewood Mayor Frank Huttle III, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, Bergen County Freeholder Tracy Zur, Jennifer Nelkin (the cousin of one of the Parkland shooting victims), and several students.
“I grew up in a farm area in New Jersey where people were hunters and had guns, but not a single hunter in my community had an assault weapon,” said Mayor Huttle. “Ban assault weapons now; enact gun control now. Never again! Enough is enough!”
Jennifer Nelkin, an Englewood resident who lost her 14-year-old cousin, Alex Schachter, read a poem that Alex had written, comparing life to a roller coaster: “The twists, the turns, the upside downs. Eventually, it all comes to a stop. You won’t know when or how, but you will know that it is time to get off and start anew.”
Zur praised the students as “the first generation to stand up and demand their right to live safely. When our legislators see the children in Englewood, in Hackensack and all across the nation, they are going to have to sit up and listen. This is not a moment, this is a movement.”
Weinberg praised all the students that she had met fighting for justice and she encouraged all of them to vote.
“If the adults are acting stupid, it’s time for the children to act like adults,” she said.
The final speaker, Englewood resident Chris Gagliardi, delivered a rousing call to action.
“I am pleased to join you today in what is the largest demonstration against violence not only in Englewood, but in the United States of America. The students that were killed may have become teachers, scientists, world leaders, even the next president,” Gagliardi said.
Photos by Hillary Viders
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