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East Hampton Students Walk Out in Wake of Texas School Shooting

Thu, 05/26/2022 - 13:46
Flags have been lowered to half-staff at East Hampton High School.
Durell Godfrey

At noon on Thursday, students across the nation walked out of their schools to send a message on gun control to elected officials: "Enough is enough." Young activists who founded studentsdemandaction.org in 2016, and who began to speak louder after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, encouraged kids and teens to "grieve with the Uvalde community and demand action from our lawmakers." 

Among those walking out were about 300 East Hampton High School students — roughly a third of the student body — who streamed out and onto the football field to walk a lap in solidarity with their peers across the country. East Hampton's marching band happened to be there, too, as it had been rehearsing patriotic songs for Monday's Memorial Day parade.

Members of the media were not permitted to speak to East Hampton students on Thursday "out of an abundance of caution and concern for their safety," administrators said. However, Adam Fine, the district superintendent, said the administration respects the students' opinions and the ways they choose to express them.

"I think our kids have had enough," he said. "I think they're fed up — and so am I. . . . The last time they protested was after Parkland. We're back here again."

He emphasized that the school district has many resources available to students who find they need support. Many have, he said, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, and lately there have been even more seeking help.

"The pandemic was unavoidable. This," Mr. Fine said, referring to the shooting in Texas, "is preventable on a multitude of levels."

In Uvalde, 22 people died on Tuesday, including 19 schoolchildren, two adults, and the 18-year-old shooting suspect himself, who was ultimately shot by a border patrol agent who had responded to help the local law enforcement authorities. The tragedy has ignited calls across the country for stricter gun control measures to be instituted both nationally and at the state level. In New York State — where the Buffalo community is still reeling from a racially motivated shooting at a grocery store less than two weeks ago — Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered flags to be lowered to half staff until noon on Monday. 

"The horrific shooting of 19 children and two teachers in Texas, not even two weeks after the mass murder of 10 New Yorkers in Buffalo, is yet another infuriating reminder of the plague of gun violence facing our nation," Governor Hochul said in a statement. "These are steps we shouldn't have to take, but I am convening an emergency meeting of the state's School Safety Improvement Team and directing state police to increase visibility at schools to make sure we are doing everything in our power to prevent the next tragedy. My administration will continue working to strengthen the gun laws in our state and put an end to these horrific acts, so that everyone — from schoolchildren to those shopping for groceries to those visiting houses of worship — can live without fear that their lives will be cut short by a weapon of war."

 


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