"Wow, I’m Literally the Only One": As Thousands March Against Gun Violence in America, Some Students Go It Alone

Thousands of students across America walked out of school today, risking punishment and suspension, to march against gun violence.

The mass protest was arranged in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which led to the deaths of 17 students and staff members.

Though many schools across the States had supported the memorial demonstration, others had threatened students with repercussions.

That didn’t stop more than 100 kids at Booker T Washington High School in Atlanta, who followed in the footsteps of civil rights legend (and former student) Martin Luther King Jr. The school was placed on lockdown, to ensure no-one left campus, so instead, the students took a knee throughout Booker T's hallways.

And in Virginia, as the Guardian reports, two 11-year-olds managed to convince more than 60 students to participate in a dramatic scene: standing in front of their school for 18 minutes and then falling to the ground in silence.

Some students, however, had to leave class all on their own.

A second-grader in San Jose had no choice but to join the highschoolers at Lincoln High with his sign, "Guns are cruel not cool."

And North Carolinian student Justin Blackman posted a video of his experience as the only kid to leave class on social media.

Though Blackman addressed the video to "six people watching this, hopefully," he has collected more than three million views as of this writing.

The students are calling on American legislators to put into place stricter laws regarding the purchase of firearms.

There will be another mass protest, titled "March for Our Lives", on 24 March.

Photo: Twitter (JustinlBlackman)