A Nashua sophomore talks about the March for Our Lives
On Saturday, June 11, students from Nashua North and South high schools gathered in Greeley Park in Nashua for a March for Our Lives protest as part of a nationwide movement to raise awareness about gun violence and advocate for gun control legislation. Nashua High School North sophomore Aarika Roy organized the event.
What is March for Our Lives?
March for our Lives is a student-led organization that was created by the survivors of the Parkland shooting, which happened in Florida in 2018. [Students] started doing marches … fighting for gun reform and justice.
How did you end up organizing one in Nashua?
When they had their first [march], Nashua students had organized one. At the time, I was only in the sixth grade. My mom [was] a teacher [at the time], and she figured it was important to get me exposed to the political world. … She brought me to the protests, and I joined kids from all different ages. It was honestly a really great experience for me. It’s how I got into activism. I was able to hear all these people give speeches, I was able to meet Maggie Hassaan as a little kid, and it was really great. After the Uvalde shooting, I felt like everything was getting [to be] too much, and I figured it was time for another [march]. I started asking around, like, ‘Hey, is anybody doing this?’ because I knew some people might be interested, and everyone was like, ‘No, I don’t have the time [to organize it], but I would go to it,’ so I was like, ‘OK, I can make the time to do it.’
What was the turnout and the response like?
There were at least 150 people. … We were expecting counter-protesters to be there, and they were, but it wasn’t that bad. … We got a lot of news coverage on this, which is great. There were a lot of different groups there, like Moms Demand Action, so we were able to meet a lot of people. Jim Donchess, our [Nashua] mayor, was there, and he commended a lot of us. We were able to get Sen. Maggie Hassaan to come, and we had speakers like Shoshanna Kelly, Alderwoman at Large … and Laura Telerski, who is a state rep.
What topics were discussed?
As the main organizer of the event, I was the first speaker. I basically just gave a quick introduction. Then, there were student speakers, and they talked about how they felt unsafe … how we feel scared to go to school … and how people need to put pressure on their legislators to sign in the right laws that will keep us safe, and to vote in the right people who will pass the laws to keep us safe.
What was involved in organizing the march?
I’m involved in a lot of socio-political organizations. I’ve been [involved] in organizing protests, but never organized one on my own. That’s the reason I was a little bit hesitant before I decided to do this protest, but I’m so glad I did, because I was able to learn a lot. It took two or three weeks [to plan]. … I started by … [designing] a flyer and posting on my social media … [calling for people] to get involved. I got a lot of really great responses. From there, I started organizing meetings. We figured out a location, which ended up being Greeley Park in Nashua. … We were able to get a lot of press coverage. … We got a lot of parents involved. … The day before, I was just making posters all night, and they turned out really great.
What are your future plans for the movement?
I don’t want to have to do this again. It’s awful that we had to have it in the first place again. If [a shooting] like this happens again, I will definitely take part in setting up and organizing another one again, but our hope is that it never happens again, not in New Hampshire or anywhere.
Featured photo: Aarika Roy, speaking at the March for Our Lives Nashua event. Photo courtesy of Aarika Roy.