CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicago elementary school students took to the streets on the West Side Tuesday morning to march against gun violence.
School officials from Daniel Webster Elementary and a police escort led students on their march through the streets of North Lawndale. School counselor Nilufar Rezai said it was the kids themselves who created this fourth annual event, after an eighth grader was shot and killed outside of his home.
“The student body rose up and they said, ‘We’ve got to do something about this; we cannot let this mindless violence keep going on,’” said Rezai. “That’s when the peace march started, and that’s when the anti-violence youth committee started.”
Lanique Carr, a seventh grader, said this is a serious mission for them all. She said she wants all the students in the school to feel they can be safe.
“I want kids to be able to walk to school without having to get killed, or to walk anywhere without having to get killed or shot,” Lanique said.
The kids said they want the people outside the school to have the same peace they do inside the building. Principal Khalid Oluewu said the school itself offers counseling and alternatives to resolving conflicts, and those things are offered to the community, too.
Residents in the area around the school, he added, are listening.
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