(Young people on the West Side board a bus bound for Washington, D.C. for the March for Our Lives rally against gun violence. The trip was sponsored by the Chicago Westside Branch NAACP. Photo: Sebastián Hidalgo)
April 20, 2018 is the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, during which two teens shot and killed 13 people and injured 21 others at their Colorado high school before turning their weapons on themselves.
To mark the anniversary, students at Ridgefield High School in Connecticut are organizing a national school walkout at 9:50 a.m. They will stay silent for one minute in honor of all victims of gun violence, followed by 13 seconds of silence for each of the Columbine victims.
Teens today live in a post-Columbine world — Gen Zers were born after 1999 have spent their entire childhoods practicing for active shooter drills and hearing about one school shooting after another. But for many young people, that’s not the primary kind of gun violence that keeps them up at night and affects their lives. Community and police-driven gun violence hit hard for teens in urban areas, many of whom have lost family members, friends, or classmates to shootings.
Here at Youth Radio, we’ve been covering urban and community gun violence for decades. So whether you’re preparing for a day of service or 13 seconds of silence to remember Columbine, consider these 13 stories too.