‘March For Our Lives’ Rally Against Gun Violence Coming To Essex County – Patch

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — A local protest against gun violence is being planned in Essex County, New Jersey in solidarity with the national “March For Our Lives” event in Washington D.C. on Saturday, June 11.

There will be a rally from 10 a.m. to noon at Military Park, 51 Park Avenue in Newark, along with several others across the nation, according to an online locator.

The American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, BlueWaveNJ and New Jersey Education Association are sponsoring the march at Military Park.

According to a news release, other speakers at the march will include gun-violence survivors, March for Our Lives student activists, teachers, medical workers and school support personnel. NJ Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D, 29th Legislative District), AFTNJ President Donna M. Chiera, NJEA President Sean Spiller and Newark physician leader Dr. Chris Pernell will also address the crowd. Supporting organizations include Action Together New Jersey, HPAE and Moms Demand Action Essex County.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez and New Jersey Acting Attorney General Matthew Platkin are among the community leaders expected to speak at the event.

“Every single mass shooting is the result of a policy failure,” Menendez said. “It’s time we go beyond thoughts and prayer.”

“Assault weapons equipped with high capacity magazines have no place in our schools, in our supermarkets, in our theaters or on our streets,” Menendez said. “It’s time we pass meaningful gun safety measures, such as expanding background checks and reinstating the assault weapons ban.”

Platkin said that the Garden State has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation, but added that it’s important not to “relent in our effort to protect New Jerseyans — and particularly our children — from senseless gun violence, and to hold accountable those who perpetuate such violence.”

This is the second time that March for Our Lives activists will protest in Newark. In 2018, 4,000 participants rallied for change after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglass in Parkland, Florida, that took the lives of 17 students and staff members.

“As much as I love standing up for what’s right, and helping out my friends, I hate that we still have to have the same discussions four years later,” said Jessica Delgado, a March for Our Lives NJ member and event organizer.

“We want change … We demand it,” Delgado said. “Not just mass shootings, but ending gun violence in all our communities.”

WHY ARE THEY PROTESTING?

According to the March For Our Lives website, here’s why the rallies are being held:

“What will it take to create safe communities? Everywhere we look, gun violence is decimating our families and communities. Whether it’s the mass shootings in shopping malls, concerts, schools, and places of worship, the retaliatory gun violence in urban neighborhoods haunted by the legacy of economic disinvestment, racism, and poverty, or the solitary suicides committed nationwide with increasing frequency, gun violence adds up: over 100 Americans die from it every day. 100+ lives lost every single day. We started March For Our Lives (MFOL) to say, ‘Not One More.’ No more school shooting drills. No more burying loved ones. No more American exceptionalism in all the wrong ways.”

Organizers are blaming several causes for the prevalence of gun violence in the United States:

GUN GLORIFICATION – “Gun glorification is the belief embedded in our culture that power and safety are derived from guns. In this country, we put guns on a pedestal and prioritize firearm access over access to human needs. This makes guns extremely easy to access—easier than housing or medical care.”

ARMED SUPREMACY – “Armed supremacy is the use of guns and the threat of gun violence to reinforce power structures, hierarchies, and status. It is how individuals or groups of people reinforce their perceived value relative to those with less power. It is how white supremacy and patriarchy survive.”

POLITICAL APATHY – “Political apathy and corruption is the gradual destruction of the democratic principle that power comes from the people. It happens when politics fails to change lived outcomes for those it’s meant to serve. Politicians use voters to gain power for themselves, but the voters get little in return. People become apathetic because they are not valued or empowered.”

POVERTY – “Poverty is the state of not having enough material possessions, income, or resources to meet basic human needs. The communities facing the highest rates of everyday gun violence have been intentionally impoverished—systemically denied resources and opportunity by the state for generations.”

MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS – “There is a national mental health crisis. While we fight to end gun violence, there is another mass-scale public health emergency happening simultaneously. Millions of Americans are struggling with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness and lack of access to mental health support and care. People with mental illness are often mischaracterized as being a threat to others, when in fact, they are at higher risk of becoming a victim of gun violence themselves, including suicide. We refuse this scapegoating.”

Organizers have released a detailed plan to combat gun violence in the United States, which can be seen here. They include:

HOLD GUN LOBBY ACCOUTABLE – “The gun lobby and industry must be held accountable for decades of illegal behavior and misguided policies intended to shield only themselves and perpetuate the proliferation of armed supremacy. We must reexamine the dangerous District of Columbia v. Heller interpretation of the Second Amendment, initiate both FEC and IRS investigations into the NRA, and fully repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).”

DIG DEEPER – “Gun violence in America is so deeply entrenched that the state itself is a major perpetrator. To properly address gun violence in America, we must confront the ways law enforcement’s brutal targeting of communities of color, and Black people in particular, contributes to gun deaths and injuries. To do so, we must end the war on drugs, stop the school-to-prison pipeline, and dramatically reduce the scope and size of policing to replace it with new forms of public safety that work for everyone instead of a select few. We must also redefine what safety looks like for our communities. This means addressing poverty—manifested in homelessness, food scarcity, disparate access to healthcare. Our investments and advocacy efforts must center community, including programming, mutual aid, and preventative and destigmatizing work that reflects cultural competence.”

END GUN GLORIFICATION – “A key piece of this roadmap is to end gun glorification by advocating and passing legislation to raise the national standards for gun ownership. This includes a national licensing and registry system that promotes responsible gun ownership; a ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other weapons of war; policies to disarm gun owners who pose a harm risk; and a national gun buy-back program to reduce the estimated 265–393 million firearms in circulation by at least 30%.”

ELEVATE VOICES – “While sensible gun reforms such as gun licensing enjoy wide support across the American electorate, our democratic institutions are fraying. A fully functional democracy that works to elevate—not stifle—the voices of people over corporate interests and influential lobbies is a powerful tool for preventing gun violence and supporting community self-determination. We call for automatic voter registration, the prohibition of voter ID laws, and campaign finance reform, including overturning Citizens United. We also call for reform to our judiciary system, including increased diversity of judges, state responsibility for public safety, and increased judicial transparency and accountability.”

EMPOWER YOUNG PEOPLE – “Young people turned out in record numbers in 2020 to support President Biden and Vice President Harris, and tipped the scales in many swing states that were crucial to victory for Democrats. In order to restore faith in government, the Biden-Harris Administration must address the unique concerns of young voters starting with a comprehensive plan to combat everyday gun violence ravaging communities nationwide, especially communities of color. To start, they must appoint at least two senior-level positions in the White House: a National Director of Gun Violence Prevention (GVP) and a Director of Youth Engagement. The Director of GVP will be tasked with operationalizing agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and others which have long been structurally weakened by the gun lobby. The Director would likewise empanel a committee to study and recommend related reforms. The Director of Youth Engagement should be a young Millennial or Gen-Z, and serve on the Domestic Policy Council, advising the President and senior staff on issues of importance to young Americans. Finally, a record level of violence requires a record level of funding: at least $1 billion in emergency and discretionary agency funding must be directed towards community violence intervention programming and increased data collection and research on gun violence prevention.”

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.