Burbank students memorialize Florida victims, march for change
Moments of silence intertwined with shouts for change Wednesday as members of the Burbank High School student body memorialized 17 students and faculty killed by a lone gunman one month earlier in Parkland, Fla.
Students gathered at the quad at 10 a.m. and dedicated a minute of silence for each victim at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. Their names were read aloud, mirroring a process that played out nationwide.
At the center of the vigil and protest, students held a variety of banners. Most carried signs advocating for gun control. Some called on politicians to stop accepting campaign contributions from the National Rifle Assn.
One group championed gun rights and the 2nd Amendment. A student even held a piece of paper calling for an end to the use of psychotropic drugs.
After the 20-minute gathering, most students returned to class. A group of around 60 continued a walkout march around campus.
Chanting “no protest, no peace,” participants began the walkout at the steps of the school and headed west along Third Street, north on Delaware Road toward North Glenoaks Boulevard, down Harvard Road, and back to the front of the school.
Protesters then sat on the curb, with individual demonstrators railing against the NRA and politicians’ unwillingness to change gun laws.
“School shootings have been becoming more and more common in our society, and that’s not OK,” Burbank High senior Briana Leslie said. “We really need to make a stand and show that kids our age believe in the value of our lives. No one should be able to take that away. This is a public institution. You shouldn’t have to be fearful to come here.”
“School shootings have been becoming more and more common in our society and that’s not OK.”
— Burbank High senior Briana Leslie
Leslie carried a sign that read, “Fear has no place in our schools.”
She and students like her found allies in several teachers, such as Arby Tacub. The American Sign Language instructor crafted a response to the proposal of providing munitions to some teachers, championed by the NRA and President Trump, via a sign that read, “The only thing a teacher should be armed with is knowledge!”
“I’m a teacher, and it’s really important that the students know that the teachers support them and whatever they believe,” Tacub said. “We have to advocate for them because they are the generation that’s going to be leaders in the future. Their involvement shouldn’t be stifled but encouraged.”
One student who was especially grateful for the right to voice his concerns was senior Nick Kazarian, who thanked Burbank Principal Michael Bertram for allowing a space for thoughtful discussion of gun and school safety.
Donning an NRA hat, Kazarian said that an end to gun ownership was not the answer, and that solutions to the threat of violence on campus would not be easy but that something had to be done.
“I’m tired of schools being killing grounds for innocent people,” Kazarian said. “We’re here to learn, we’re here to develop ourselves as human beings. I believe in having the necessary measures here — let’s say 2% of all teachers are put through a police academy. Get them rightfully equipped with firearms. Put some metal detectors on the school grounds. I do not mind walking through a metal detector every morning. I really don’t.”
One of the vigil’s organizers, Burbank student body President Melanie Ohanian, said divergent ideas were to be expected.
“I feel like you’re always going to have people with different viewpoints,” Ohanian said. “We can’t force people to think a certain way. What we had in mind was just that we wanted to be safe in school and create an environment where people felt they could be safe.”
The first name read off during the memorial was that of 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg. Almost all of the names were read by students.
One exception came when Frank Barberia, an Advanced Placement European history instructor, read the 11th name in the center of the quad.
After doing so, the 31-year district employee walked back to the hallway and pulled out a small clipping from his breast pocket and began to read from a People magazine article that featured bios on two victims: Luke Hoyer, 15, and football coach Aaron Feis, 37.
Barberia, a Navy veteran and father of two, called for an expansion of Brady Bill regulations and an end to gun show loopholes and directed his thoughts toward another group.
“Having a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old, my heart goes out, as a parent, to the parents of the victims of the Parkland shooting,” Barberia said. “I wanted to be out here to show my support, show my support of the students who are out here, and also to be part of a group of people that are trying to let the politicians know that it’s time to do something about gun sales and gun violence.”
As the march wrapped up, Bertram was pleased there were no incidents.
“I support what kids do and that they have the freedom to make choices,” Bertram said. “The kids planned the event in the quad and I know that there were going to be kids that walked out front, and we told them ahead of time that we still needed to follow school rules. My concern is their safety. That’s my priority. The kids out here are being peaceful and I can’t argue against it. I understand what they’re doing and I support my students.”
The vast majority of the protest was over and most students returned back to class within an hour.
The memorial at Burbank High was mirrored throughout the district.
Students at Burroughs released balloons one minute apart at Memorial Field for the 17 victims.
Muir Middle and Washington Elementary schools allowed student speeches. Ralph Emerson Elementary staged a celebration of peace, love and mindfulness. Providencia Elementary hosted an assembly focused on building peace.
