About the author: M.M. Barron is a creative writing major and first-year student at UMKC. She graduated from Paseo Academy of Fine & Performing Arts in Kansas City, Missouri in 2017. She participates frequently in events at the Women’s Center and meetings with Pride Alliance. This is her first post for the UMKC Women’s Center blog.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of UMKC or the UMKC Women’s Center.
The March For Our Lives Kansas City – 12 p.m. March 24, 2018, at Theis Park, 533 Emmanuel Cleaver II Blvd.
“We are marching so that those who have lost their lives to gun violence aren’t forgotten. We are marching to get legislators to support gun-regulation bills. We are marching to inform and empower our community to support our lives with their votes. We are marching for our lives.” – Student Committee’s Mission Statement for the March For Our Lives Kansas City 2018.
The March for Our Lives Kansas City starts at 12 p.m. on March 24. The first three hours of the event will contain speeches, poems, music, and dance. The UMKC Conservatory Dancers will be performing a piece at the rally. The event will also feature a performance by The Greeting Committee, a band from Kansas City, performing their song “Hands Down.” All acts auditioned and were selected by the student committee organizing the march, of which I am a member. PeaceWorksKC will be speaking at the event as well.
100 volunteers from the grassroots organization Moms Demand Action will be assisting at the event, plus many student volunteers. Organizers encourage people to bring picnics or snack and a blanket to sit on. There will also be booths throughout the event with information about voter registration, gun policy in Kansas and Missouri, how to contact your legislators, and other pertinent topics. After the program at the park, there will be a memorial march to the Plaza area and back to the park to honor the victims of gun violence.
#MarchForOurLivesKC supports the survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in their demands for background checks on all gun sales, and more restrictions or bans on semi-automatic guns and large-capacity clips. No civilian needs an AR-15 style weapon.
1. If you want to write to urge action in our country to reduce gun violence, please submit your letters to be displayed at the rally at Theis Park. Use this link.
2. If you would like to volunteer as an individual, or as a family, or as a group of friends, or if you represent an organization that would like to get involved and take on a task as needed by the March, then we want you! Please let us know through the form at this link.
3. The event can be found on social media.
Facebook: March For Our Lives – Greater Kansas City (Follow this link)
Instagram: mfolkansascity
Twitter: @mfolkansascity