photo credit: Sonnenberg Shots
National Walk Out Day was on Wednesday, started by the survivors of the Flordia high school shooting a month ago. The walk out was held to protest gun violence and to honor those who were lost on that day.
Hundreds of students walked out of middle and high schools and universities across the country. Even some elementary students got involved.
Here in North Carolina, Justin Blackman, 16, was the only student in his school of 700 students to walk out of Wilson Preparatory Academy.
Blackman said a student from Stonemason Douglas, the school in Florida where 17 people were killed from gun violence, reached out to him to thank him for his participation.
“She was telling me about how she really liked what I did. I told her it was no big deal and I would want someone to do it if it was this school, God forbid,” he said.
Wilson Preparatory Academy spokeswoman Janet Conner-Knox told CNN: “We teach our students to be independent thinkers. (Blackman) is an independent thinker.”
“Now, I truly know that one person is all it takes,” Blackman said. “No matter the age, skin color, gender — it doesn’t matter. I’m young and I have a voice.”
Wow I’m literally the only one #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/2F95qY2vTI
— justin (@JustinIBlackman) March 14, 2018
Written by Clarke Jones