A group of Lincoln residents stands vigil on Tuesday, one month after the Parkland school shooting.
Undeterred by the recent heavy snowfall, a group of Lincolnites held a 17-minute silent vigil in South Lincoln on March 14, the one-month anniversary at the Parkland, Fla., school shootings. The following day, students at the Lincoln School and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School walked out of school for 17 minutes to protest gun violence.
The school walkouts were delayed a day because schools were closed on March 14, two days after a blizzard dropped almost two feet of snow on the area. But adults braved the cold on Wednesday and stood silently for 17 minutes to commemorate the 17 students and adults who were shot. Organizer Sharon Antia played a bell tone on her phone once each minute as participants took turns reading the names of the victims.
Although the First Parish Church rang its bell 17 times at 10:00, it couldn’t be heard at Peace Park—but bells rang out anyway at the end of the vigil as a commuter train approached.
“I just felt I had to find a place to be open about what I feel about guns and this tragedy,” said vigil participant Toby Frost.
At the vigil, “I was thinking about my own children. When I see something like that, the unimaginable horror as a parent I would feel…” said Margit Griffith, her voice trailing off.
“As students, it’s kind of scary to think about [a shooting] and that it could be a younger adult who just graduated high school,” said Griffith’s daughter Emma, 14. “Guns are meant for war—they shouldn’t be anywhere near students.”
“Our Constitution and our democracy are being hijacked by a false understanding of the Second Amendment,” said Chris Damon.
“No one should be able to purchase that kind of weapon, especially at that age,” said her son 14-year-old Javi Damon. Nineteen-year-old Nikolas Cruz used an AR-15 in the Parkland school shooting.
The next day, hundreds of students at L-S left class and walked around the high school with signs and a student speech. Police were on campus to prevent anyone from entering or leaving except in an emergency.
At the Lincoln School, about 150 students in grades 5–8 also walked out. Student Council members read names and brief pieces of information about each of the 17 people who were killed in Parkland, and the names were interspersed with poems, moments of silence, and one impassioned plea to end gun violence.
After they reentered the building, the students had an opportunity to reflect on the event by talking to adults and each other, writing letters to students or lawmakers, draw, write on sticky notes to be posted around the school in response to the question “how can we take care of each other?”
Some scenes from the walkout and student signs that were taped afterwards to windows at L-S (click an image to enlarge):
