‘We all live with gun violence’ – People take to Chicago streets for March for Our Lives

By Kevin Beese Staff reporter

Marchers carry plenty of signs out of Union Park to display on the streets during the march. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

Lauren Heckathorne would love to change one thing about her job as a special education instructor.

“I want more time with programs, not hiding children,” said the teacher at Park School in Evanston. “I want more time teaching the curriculum.”

Heckathorne stood in Chicago’s Union Park on Saturday, holding a sign that read “I want to teach my students the ABCs, not how to hide in a closet,” calling for change with thousands of like-minded individuals.

The teacher at the self-contained public therapeutic day program for students ages 3-21 said she fears for her students’ safety should a gunman enter the school.

“How am I going to keep them safe?” Heckathorne asked. “These are kids with special needs.”

Special education teacher Lauren Heckathorne holds a sign supporting gun-control measures. “How am I going to keep them safe?” the Evanston teacher of special needs children asked about a gunman entering her school. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

Teachers like Heckathorne were among the estimated 30,000 people that filled Union Park and took to nearby streets calling for gun-control measures. Students, parents, teachers and gun-control advocates used signs and chants of “Vote Them Out,” “Not One More,” and “Enough is Enough” to get their point across during the rally and march.

Amina Henderson, a leader with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education and “Good Kids, Mad City,” told the masses gathered for the march that steps must be taken to curb gun violence.

“What happened in Parkland was a tragedy, but living on the South Side of Chicago and working with my peers from everywhere in the city we’ve experienced this every single day of our lives,” Henderson said. “For the past six years, I have rallied, marched, protested, walked out, sat in and met with all people to help end the violence in Chicago.”

Protesters take their calls for gun-control measures to the streets. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

She said black and brown communities are always overshadowed and never listed to by officials.

“We don’t have a voice because we are always having it taken away from us,” Henderson said. “For decades, our communities have been talking about this, but no one wants to pay attention to us.”

She said violence in Chicago has claimed far too many lives.

“We can’t even count how many people were taken from us on a daily basis,” she said, with tears welling up in her eyes. “There are young people walking around wearing PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) like it’s a backpack.”

As the crowd left Union Park to take their message to the streets, Egle Makar was one of three individuals lying on the ground, pretending to be a corpse, holding a sign that read “This is what happens when you get what you want.”

Kristen (right), a north suburban resident who declined to provide her last name, marches for gun-control measures despite being a supporter of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

The Chicago artist said she could think of no better way to protest than to lie in state in tribute to gun-violence victims.

“Lying down is a reminder of the students’ physical end of life,” Makar said. “We all live with gun violence. What’s a more peaceful protest than resting in peace, playing dead?”

Organizers of the event said they were overwhelmed by the turnout and wanted Saturday’s march to send a message about gun violence close to home and across the nation.

“We’re here to march for the students down in Parkland (Fla.) and the students on the South and West sides of Chicago,” Marley Rosario, one of the March for Our Lives Chicago organizers, said.

Egle Makar (left) and other individuals lie on the ground of Union Park, remembering the victims of gun violence. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

“It’s time to make a change and say, “Stop the gun violence,’” said fellow march organizer Devon Lewis.

Having grown up with a gun and having hunted doesn’t mean you can’t seek gun-control measures, said Emily, a Hebron, Ind. student who came to the rally and march. Emily, who declined to provide her last name, said more checking of an individual’s background needs to be done before they are allowed to own a gun and random spot checks of gun owners would make sense.

“You have public entities that can go and check on foster kids unannounced. Why shouldn’t we have entities checking unannounced on people who own guns?” asked Emily, while holding a sign that read “I should be afraid of AP Physics, not a school shooter.”

Protesters head down Washington Street during the March for Our Lives. (Photo by Kevin Beese/Chronicle Media)

Luis Sanabria of Chicago marched with his family including his daughter, Violet, hoisted on his shoulders While on her dad’s shoulder’s, Violet held a sign that read “I want to grow up.”

The senior Sanabria said his reasons for being at the march were simple.

“I am here for my kids, for their lives,” he said. “I want to see change.”

 

 

 

 

 

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— ‘We all live with gun violence’ – People take to Chicago streets for March for Our Lives—-