Hundreds of Inman Middle School students walked out of class chanting “Protect our schools, not the guns” and “Stop the violence” as part of demonstrations taking place across the country Wednesday morning.
Students at schools nationwide participated in the walkout in honor of the 17 students and faculty members killed a month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. There, former student Nikolas Cruz, 19, walked into the school with a semi-automatic rifle and shot dozens of people.
Many of the walkouts lasted 17 minutes in honor of the 17 people killed.
LIVE UPDATES | Georgia students walk out of schools to protest gun violence
When the clock struck 10 a.m. Wednesday, students streamed out of the Virginia-Highland school, bearing handwritten signs with phrases including, “My life is greater than your gun.”
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Anna Rachwalski, an eighth-grade student, carried a sign reading simply: “Am I next?”
“It means is someone going to come into my school where I’m supposed to learn and grow, and shoot me?” Rachwalski said.
After walking out, the students formed a ring around their school, holding hands and continuing to chant.
Rachwalski was part of a group of about a dozen Inman Middle School students who planned the walkout with administrators and school resource officers. Principal Kevin Maxwell required the students to provide a detailed plan for the walkout to ensure safety and efficiency.
“They had to plan it minute by minute,” Maxwell said. Once that plan was written, it was provided to the head of Atlanta Public Schools’ security division.
APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen attended the walkout Wednesday morning, hugging some students and telling them they were doing a good job. A native of Selma, Alabama, Carstarphen cited her hometown and Atlanta’s roots in the civil rights movement as a reason why students across the district were permitted to participate in the walkout.
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“Atlanta is the place where the civil rights movement was born and voting rights were won. We are a city that encourages peaceful protest and civic engagement,” Carstarphen said. “We should allow our kids to participate in that."
Isaiah Hamilton and Bryant Shaw, both Inman sixth graders, spoke to Carstarphen during the walkout. They told the superintendent that they did not want their teachers to carry guns, but would be okay with more school resource officers who carried guns.
“A teacher could use a gun whenever they feel threatened,” Shaw said. “If teachers are allowed to have guns, a teacher could be the next school shooter.”
By 10:30 a.m., students began to funnel back into their classrooms.
“We did it! Oh my god, we did it!” a female student gleefully shouted as she walked through the parking lot.
Between directing students towards the doors, a school resource officer called out “Good job, kids!”
Rachwalski and the other students who helped plan the walkout hung back, taking a selfie with Carstarphen and two school resource officers. Before heading back to class, they gathered in a circle and put their hands on top of each other.
“Alright, one, two, three: Gun control!” they cheered.
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