parkland – March For Our Lives rallies are taking place across South Florida this weekend.
An event in Parkland was organized by a high school student named Zoe Weisman.
She says planning the event has helped her overcome the trauma she suffered on the day of shooting Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
“I survived the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. I was in adjoining middle school, and I felt trapped outside. I developed PTSD from those experiences and it inspired me to engage in activism,” Weisman said. .
Weisman says he heard gunshots that day and has since made it his mission to ensure that students never experience the trauma he and many others went through that day.
“I was one of the only kids stranded outside that day. Many of us, regardless of our experiences that day, just felt so painful and so sad.”
Weisman’s March for Our Lives rally will take place Saturday at Pine Trails Park from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“This includes speakers like me, other survivors, community activists.”
Another will take place at Weston Library Park from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. – this will be hosted by students from Cypress Bay High School.
Finally Saturday evening another rally in Coral Gables will begin at City Hall from 4 to 7 p.m.
The movement was founded in the aftermath of the 2018 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas. Students like Zoe Weisman hope their work will help end gun violence.
“Obviously after everything in Uvalde and Buffalo, everyone in Parkland and across the country was feeling disappointed. In times of tragedy, this is a window of opportunity that our politicians listen to us.”
During the school finals, Weisman made this rally possible with the help of his mother. This is something she says has helped her through her personal grief.
“For survivors like me, it’s really hard because it explains a lot about what we had to go through, and I think planning this march and throwing myself into this march really helped me deal with it. Got it, knowing that I’m not the only one watching another mass shooting happen.”
Weisman says they are expecting about 2,000 people to come.
