Sonoma students to take aim at N.R.A. in D.C.

Thirteen local students are headed to D.C. for the anti-gun rally this Saturday, March 24.|

In the first 82 days of 2018, 35 shootings involving three or more people have been recorded in police blotters across the United States. That's mass ballistic violence perpetrated every 2.3 days, the worst of it playing on televisions in a near constant loop: Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and, of course, Parkland, Florida, where 14 children and three adults were murdered at school.

It had been Valentine's Day, a day for bold declarations, a day when love typically wins. But something else showed its face at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that day, and as the news traveled in a familiar barrage of breaking bulletins, one local woman felt something new.

'It pierced my heart,' Wendell Anne Westerbeke said, about watching the Parkland students speak on television after the shooting. 'Something about them, their age group, really touched me.'

Westerbeke picked up the phone and began calling friends, many of them artsy and progressive-leaning, like her. Did anyone know anyone who knew good kids in Sonoma? Was there a way she could help local children show support for their Parkland peers?

Within a few hours Westerbeke had 13 names on a list, and a plan to send all of them to Washington D.C.

They would join the organizers from Parkland for the 'March for Your Lives' rally, and declare themselves a critical mass of changemakers.

'Not one more,' the march's mission statement read. 'We cannot allow one more child to be shot at school. We cannot allow one more teacher to make a choice to jump in front of a firing assault rifle to save the lives of students. We cannot allow one more family to wait for a call or text that never comes. Our schools are unsafe. Our children and teachers are dying. We must make it our top priority to save these lives.'

Westerbeke remembers Columbine, of course, and the incalculable sorrow of Sandy Hook. But there was something about the sight of those Parkland kids filing out of their classrooms, hands up, something about the articulate way they navigated the terror that landed in a way Westerbeke couldn't shake.

'They were incredible,' Westerbeke said, 'just amazing. It's awful in a way, but those kids were born for this moment. They are the perfect icons for this time.'

To characterize the politics of 'this time' as divided is to demonstrate editorial restraint. It is safe to say, though, that the Sonoma cohort heading to D.C. shares a belief that guns, generally, are too prevalent in civilian culture and that semi-automatic guns have no place at all.

All 13 kids on Westerbeke's list were required to submit a letter of intent to ensure that each of them wanted to attend the march for the right reasons. This was real politics they were engaged in, not a vacation, after all. Then Westerbeke opened a YouCaring account and started a social media campaign. By week's end, the fund had raised $7,000 — half the goal — and Westerbeke had 13 short, plaintive essays in hand from big-hearted kids who were sick of being jolted by gun violence.

'Another preventable, infuriating, heartbreaking mass school shooting,' wrote Sofia Williams, Sonona Valley High School class of 2016. 'I am angry that I am no longer struck by shock and horror every time I see a new headline for mass murder.'

'Inaction is no longer an option,' agreed SVHS senior Kimberly Uzzo. 'The NRA cannot and will not continue to have more power than the thousands of voices fighting for stricter gun laws.'

'It is possible to support both the 2nd Amendment and gun control,' added Ali DeClercq, SVHS senior. 'I understand the right to own a gun, but that doesn't mean it has to be a weapon of war.'

The 13 had assumed they were competing for spots, and were stunned when they realized Westerbeke intended to send them all to D.C.

'They said, 'Oh! You're just like Oprah!'' Westerbeke said, remembering their first meeting at the ranch where she has lived all her life, where she served them lasagna and met some of their parents. 'This is the issue of their time. These kids are awake. Totally awake. They're going to be waking us up, which is what we all need.'

Indeed, in the weeks since Parkland and the activism it triggered, as government remains gridlocked, the open market has begun to move the needle on gun control. Last month, Dick's Sporting Goods announced it would no longer stock assault rifles or high-capacity magazines, and would not sell guns to people under the age of 21. Kroger and Walmart followed suit a week later, announcing their own intention to reset age minimums. Delta and United airlines suspended their discount fare program for NRA members, and Avis, Budget, Hertz, Alamo, Enterprise and National rental car companies ended theirs, too. Allied Van Lines and North American Van Lines both severed ties with the association, and asked to be removed from the NRA's website.

Metlife abruptly ended its discount for NRA members, and Simplisafe and Symantec, both security firms, discontinued their relationships, as well.

This Saturday, March 24 at 10 a.m., 13 Sonoma students will march toward the seat of power in Washington, D.C., and countless thousands in other cities will march along with them.

Rallies are planned in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Dallas, and Boise, Idaho. And just outside the gated safety of Mar-a-Lago, protesters will gather in West Palm Beach, too.

It's a tidal wave of teenagers — and soon-to-be voters — poised to crash against the NRA's rocky shore.

'Older generations often criticize the younger generation for our laziness, our addiction to screens, and our lack of emotion, but I see the beauty in my generation,' said SVHS senior Eliza Neely.'I see how politically informed and active we are, how much more accepting we are of differences and diversity. We have the ability to change the injustices of the modern world.'

How those changes will play out remains to be seen, but Sonoma is well-represented in the process.

'I do not know the answer,' admitted SVHS senior Dominic Tommasi. 'But I am committed to the conversation.'

Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.

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