See the March For Our Lives Around the World

“Now we fight for our lives.”

That is the call to action urged by the
March For Our Lives
website^[1] following a rally that
drew hundreds of thousands to Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington,
D.C., this Saturday to protest gun violence. Sister marches took
place not only across the country, but around the world—adding up
to 846 events globally, with one even held in
Antarctica.

No matter the location, the unifying
message of these protests was clear: Enough is enough. Many of
those who carried signs or spoke at the rally demanded tougher
gun-control laws, including banning the sale of assault weapons and
closing loopholes on background checks.

It has taken only 38 days for the
surviving students of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High
School in Parkland, Florida, to ignite a nationwide movement toward
gun reform.

Many of the school’s students spoke at
the main March For Our Lives event in Washington, D.C. Senior Emma
Gonzalez asked the crowd to “fight for your lives before it’s
someone else’s job.”

Perhaps the most moving part of Gonzalez’s speech, though, was
silence. She allotted herself six minutes and 20 seconds for her
speech—the amount of time, she said, that it had taken Nikolas Cruz
to kill 17 in Parkland and injure many more.

A surprise appearance was also made by Yolanda Renee King, the
9-year-old granddaughter of the revolutionary Martin Luther King,
Jr. and Coretta Scott King—and she has a dream of her own. “I have
a dream that enough is enough,” she said. “That this should be a
gun-free world. Period.”

The young, determined voices didn’t stop at the stage. Children
and teens of all ages showed up with signs in tow. One fourth-grade
girl who came with fellow students from Francis Scott Key
Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, held a sign that read:
“We may be small but we have a voice!”

Volunteers could also be seen throughout the throngs of crowds
calling for people to register to vote. Stickers adorning
protestors’ jackets and signs counted down the days until U.S.
midterm elections, which will take place in eight months on
November 6. The elections are seen as a chance to bring in more
members of Congress as well as state and local officials who
support gun-control measures.