On Feb. 14, Aalayah Eastmond survived the shooting at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, by using the body of a
fallen classmate to shield herself.
Since then, Eastmond has spoken about her experience
as part of the #Enough movement
borne from that day, when 17 people were fatally shot, but this
weekend, she’s partnering with Ramon Contreras, a senior at KIPP NYC
College Prep, on a
march across the Brooklyn Bridge to raise awareness about gun violence in urban communities.
“It’s amazing that (the Parkland students) brought this issue on the
national forefront, but it’s important that we bring the momentum and
spotlight back to where it’s been going on for decades,” Contreras, 19,
said. “It’s important that they get the same attention so the same
investment being put into Parkland is put into communities that have
been doing this for a while.”
To that end, Contreras took his experiences as a former intern in the governor’s office and at a city-based hedge fund via
First Workings, to found
Youth Over Guns
after the National School Walkout on March 14 to “give the platform to
young black and brown students to voice their opinions on the solutions
they think can benefit their communities,” he said.
One such platform will be Saturday’s march, which will travel from
the Korean War Veterans Plaza in Brooklyn and across the Brooklyn Bridge
to Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, where a rally featuring speakers
from Contreras and Eastmond to March for Our Lives keynote speaker Zion
Kelly and representatives from Justice League NYC, Women’s March Empower
and National Action Network’s youth branch will be held. The march
takes place from noon to 5 p.m.
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| Youth Over Guns founder Ramon Contreras partnered with Parkland survivor Aalayah Eastmond for a march across the Brooklyn Bridge Saturday. (Provided) |
“We want all stakeholders in this issue to invest back into
communities of color where gun violence has been going on for years
now,” Contreras said. “That is our call to action. We are tired of the
media seeing shootings in our community as a norm. There’s no reason
why, when people who look the same are killing each other, that should
be ignored.
“We’re not targeting legislative action, we’re targeting
community-based action through education where the roots of violence are
at,” he added.
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