Concerned parents, students, neighbors, and community members will gather on Wednesday, March 14 in Blacksburg to protest inaction on school violence following national headlines that have spurred the community to speak up announced the organization One Voice Blacksburg.
“A fundamental duty of government is to protect its citizens,” One Voice Blacksburg organizer Mindy Quigley said. “When it comes to school violence, our national leaders need to step up and do more.”
One Voice Blacksburg is not formal organization, she said.
“I’m just a person, I’m not an activist at all. We’re just citizens who all feel like we should do something to move this conversation forward,” Quigley said.
Demonstrators will arrive, rain or shine, no later than 10 a.m. in the playing fields between Kipps Elementary School and Blacksburg Middle School, located along Prices Fork Road in Blacksburg.
Adults will form a ring around the field, staying close enough to join hands with the people on either side of them. As more participants arrive, the circle can expand or concentric circles can be formed. Children are asked to move to the open area in the center of the circle, while high schoolers may choose to be part of either group.
Between 10 and 10:17 a.m., the adults will join hands in a circle of loving protection while the children play in the center.
The 17-minute vigil honors the 17 individuals who were killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The student arm of the Women’s March is coordinating similar events around the country on March 14 and encouraging supporters to use the hashtags #enough and #NeverAgain to raise awareness.
Following the vigil, educators, students, and community leaders—including Blacksburg Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith, Blacksburg Police Chief Anthony Wilson, and Delegate Chris Hurst—will speak at the playing fields until 11 a.m. A large crowd is expected, and event organizers have been in touch with the Blacksburg Police Department and Montgomery County Public Schools to ensure safety for participants.
The demonstration will highlight the special connection between Blacksburg, Virginia and Parkland, Florida. Following the 2007 tragedy at Virginia Tech, which at the time was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, students at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School sent the university a handcrafted wooden book with more than 100 pages of condolences and messages of hope—the largest such item sent to Tech after the shooting and documented in local papers.
But state and national leaders have taken little to no meaningful action to curb school violence in the more than 10 years between the Blacksburg and Parkland tragedies.
“Parkland was there for us ten years ago, and now we need to be strong for Parkland and all of the other communities affected by senseless violence,” Quigley said. “I can’t accept that another ten years will go by without meaningful, common-sense reforms. The only way to prevent that is to show our leaders that this matters to us, so much so that we’re taking time off work and keeping our kids out of school. Thoughts and prayers are important, but so are actions.”
Organizers are asking participants to arrive at the March 14 demonstration with plenty of time to get in position and consider bringing bubbles, jump ropes, and other safe, compact toys to occupy children during the event.
They will also be hosting a poster-making session for interested community members on Saturday, March 10. More details about the event logistics and goals are available on the One Voice Blacksburg website.
Established in 2018, One Voice Blacksburg hopes to add our voice to the growing chorus urging action to prevent school violence, said the event announcement.
“Honestly it’s amazing that this event has come together so quickly and with such force,” Quigley said. “The group is open to all who care about this issue and want to work across political divides to find common-sense solutions.”