On the same day thousands are expected to gather in Washington D.C. to participate in the March For Our Lives, a similar rally against gun violence will take place in downtown Buffalo. Mayor Byron Brown stated Thursday that 2,500 are expected in front of City Hall for what is billed as United To End Gun Violence.
Mayor Brown introduced representatives of the Buffalo Board of Education, School Superintendent Kriner Cash, the Western New York Peace Center, the Belle Center, Concerned Clergy Coalition, NAACP, National Action Network, Buffalo Urban League and other community stakeholders who stood behind him in a call to pass "sensible and responsible" federal gun control legislation.
"No matter how we have come to this fight, all of us have one thing in common. We are gathering because our young people are leading us," said Brown, who commended the students who walked out of school in protest of federal lawmakers "not taking the issue seriously."
Farhiya Ibrahim Diriye, a student at Leonardo DaVinci High School and the student representative on the Buffalo Board of Education, said while guns continue to destroy lives, her generation can no longer stay silent. She says it's happening because there are inadequate laws that protect her peers from gun violence.
"I and millions of other students will no longer accept this," she said.
"Our voices will be heard and our federal representatives must pay attention. This is a national movement and can only last if community leaders become our allies."
Meanwhile, Mayor Brown's office is sponsoring a bus that will transport students and others to Washington to participate in Saturday's March For Our Lives. That bus was scheduled to leave Buffalo late Friday night and travel overnight to the nation's capital.
The local rally begins Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
