Providence students taking part in “March for Our Lives” in D.C.

March 23, 2018 8:48 pm

By John Krinjak

Email: jkrinjak@abc6.com

Twitter: @johnkrinjakABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — It’s the culmination of a movement that took off after 17 people were killed in the Florida school shooting.

"I was shocked," said Juan Rios, a junior at The Met High School in Providence.

"Both angry and numb, because this happened so many times," said Met junior Tanner McCarthy.

The "March for our Lives" is just hours away on the National Mall in Washington–organized by the survivors of that massacre.

"The kids who were in Parkland, how they got affected. They were like no, this is enough and we have to speak," said Rios.

Rios and McCarthy say the Parkland students inspired them to make their voices heard, and take part in Saturday’s march. They’re leaving on a bus late Friday night along with 40 other students from The Met, arriving in Washington Saturday morning. In all, more than 200 students from Providence will be taking part in the march.

"We wanted to go because we do feel like we want to speak our minds about what’s happening right now with gun violence. We feel like kids aren’t really safe in school and sometimes I don’t even feel safe in school," said Rios.

"It’s so easy for a kid to get a gun compared to getting a lottery ticket or alcohol, so I don’t understand why you could have something be so strict for other things but not for something so dangerous," said McCarthy.

Rios and McCarthy told me they took part in last week’s walkout, marching to the state house to protest gun violence.

Now they hope that by taking to the national stage, the impact will be even greater.

"I mean I think it’s a really big deal, because not only the young kids but also adults and kids and families are going to be there, marching for what they think is right," said Rios.