Keweenaw March for Our Lives: videos, photos

By Michele Bourdieu
Videos by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now
Photos by Allan Baker and guest photographers

Participants in the March 24, 2018, Keweenaw March for Our Lives against gun violence gather in Houghton before marching across the Portage Lift Bridge to Hancock and back. (Photo by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now)

HOUGHTON-HANCOCK -- On Saturday, March 24, local participants of all ages gathered for the Keweenaw March for Our Lives against gun violence, crossing the Portage Lake Lift Bridge from Houghton to Hancock and back to show support for changing gun laws to protect our students and schools.

"I counted over 200 people at the Keweenaw March for Our Lives," said organzier Erin Burkett, Michigan Tech PhD Student in Environmental and Energy Policy.

During the Keweenaw March for Our Lives, organizer Erin Burkett, right, Michigan Tech PhD Student in Environmental and Energy Policy, is joined by Hongmei Lu, center, and Sophia Ford --fellow graduate students in Michigan Tech's Department of Social Sciences. (Photo © Hongmei Lu and courtesy Erin Burkett)

This march was held in solidarity with the March for Our Lives that took place in Washington, D.C., and in many other cities that same day.

The event was created, inspired, and led by students across the country who have been speaking out and acting to stop the epidemic of school shootings. Students, teachers, families, and allies are demanding better gun regulations. An average of 23 children are shot every day. School shootings are now the third leading cause of death for American children.

VIDEOS:

Preceding the Keweenaw march, participants gathered near the bridge in Houghton to hear some brief comments by organizers. Allan Baker captured these introductions on video:

Erin Burkett, organizer of the March 24, 2018, Keweenaw March For Our Lives, welcomes participants gathered to march across the Portage Lift Bridge from Houghton to Hancock to protest gun violence. (Videos by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now)

Preceding the march, Barry Fink of the League of Women Voters reminds participants of the importance of voting.

Ilya Holden, Houghton High School student, speaks about gun violence in the U.S. and reasons for the Keweenaw March for Our Lives.

PHOTOS: New slide show

More than 200 participants in the Keweenaw March for Our Lives form a long line as they head across the west side of the Portage Lift Bridge toward Hancock. (Photo by Allan Baker for Keweenaw Now)

Click here to see our new slide show, Keweenaw March for Our Lives: Houghton, Michigan, with photos by Allan Baker and several guest photographers. Click on the lead photo and follow arrows to the right for the slide show. Click on info icon for captions and photo credits.

For more information on the March for Our Lives and ways you can join the movement, click here.