Thousands of students are taking to the streets today to participate in a nationwide protest against gun violence one month after 17 people were shot dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
With organizers touting about 3,000 planned rallies, the walkouts could be the largest demonstration of student activism to date. The first wave happened as students poured out of their classes at 10 a.m. ET for 17 minutes — one minute for each victim in the massacre.
Led by Empower, the youth wing of the Women’s March, the coordinated walkouts will continue throughout the day, with students appearing roadside, at football fields, and heading to statehouses to honor the lives lost, as well as call for legislative change.
Also supporting the students are companies like media giant Viacom, which announced that it would pause the programming on its cable networks, including MTV, BET and VH1, for 17 minutes to coincide with the National School Walkout.
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Fashion companies are in on it, too: Posting on Instagram, Rebecca Minkoff became one of the first designers to publicly back the cause.
Ulla Johnson also expressed pride in her child, whom she said was among the students who took part in the demonstrations in the hopes of gun reform.
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Kenneth Cole, who has time and again used his fashion brand as a platform to raise awareness for social causes, participated in a series of tweets commending the courage of students and teachers.
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