I could give you the numbers attending this sprawling march and rally so that you could quantify the outrage and sadness over the growing body count. I could give quotes from Mayor Bronin or any of the others who spoke on what should be a non-issue. I could fit this Hartford protest into context of the national movement.
But I’m here, sifting through photos, wondering how to report from a dystopia in which there are people actually telling children that their lives do not matter more than the financial interests of the gun lobby; that their lives do not matter more than an archaic line in a document created during another reality; that their lives do not matter more than someone’s gun fetish.
Preventing school shootings may be what motivated most activists to mill about with signs for hours on a Saturday afternoon in Bushnell Park and at the Connecticut State Capitol, but others have been able to connect-the-dots and see that other communities have been impacted by gun violence. This is not the time to get sidetracked by who has been the most violated, pained, and victimized. A child killed in the classroom and a child killed in the street are both dead children. There’s a common denominator in these scenarios and logical ways to begin to stop the carnage. How ridiculous that keeping kids alive is controversial.
Donna S Swarr
Thank you so much! I appreciated your article and being able to see so many signs and messages that I missed while attending today. I am sitting back pondering how to volunteer to assist in getting high school students to register to vote – and most importantly, get them to vote in November.
Kerri Provost
Thanks, Donna! It was impossible to see everything and everyone yesterday.
Linda Pagani
Thanks for covering this, and posting these photos. They are so great.
Let’s continue to boldly, loudly, and unceasingly demand action to let us live without fear of being gunned down.
Niyah Thompson
Thanks for sharing! The photos and flyers were so moving and inspiring. Its encouraging to know that even here in a small town such as Hartford that we all can come together as a country on the same side of one issue despite our differences.