News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Cookeville citizens rallied on the Courthouse Square with an eye toward unification as well as solidarity for gun control legislature.
The March for Our Lives Rally part of a series of demonstrations nationwide following the Parkland, Florida high school shootings of 17 people last month. Suzanne Swain organized the local rally.
“I’m so proud of our community to come out here and take the time in the rain and cold, in the numbers that we had, we are looking around 400 people at least if not more,” Swain said. “To have people to take the time our of their schedules, especially on a Saturday, to do this, to all stand in unison. And to really get that message out to our kids mostly, that going to school is your right.”
The march featured a number of speakers including Tennessee Tech student Haley Bearden, Pastor James Bowman Harris, and Senate candidate David Kent. Active school shooter survivor Dr. Amanda Rosenberg also spoke.
Bearden said the fight to control school violence will be a long one.
“This is going to take longer, we are going to have to take more action than other countries, because we have normalized this culture in our society today,” Bearden said. “We need to make the change more than anyone else. So if you tell me this is part of our culture, then our culture needs to change because children are dying.”
Rally participants carried signs reading “Never Again” and other slogans as they battled a consistent drizzle Saturday morning.
“The goal right now is to try to get our young people to register to vote, to get excited about that, to be proud of their civic duty to vote, and to make everyone a little bit more aware,” Swain said, “I think when we see what happens worldwide today, I think that everyone will open their eyes a little bit and just see we need to start looking at where money is coming from where it is going and who is taking it and what are they supporting.”
More than 830 demonstrations worldwide took place Saturday.
