On March 24th, 2018, I stood among an estimated 800,000 people in Washington, D.C., for the March for Our Lives. The march was accompanied by around 800 sister marches across the country. It was organized by the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting to push for stricter gun control measures such as a ban on assault weapons and universal background checks, and to protest against arming public school teachers. Student activists and survivors Emma González, Aalayah Eastmond, David Hogg, and Samantha Fuentes were among the 17 to speak at the rally. Fuentes delivered powerful words during her speech: “The moment we speak up, we’re scolded that we are not old enough,” she stated. “It’s as if we need permission to ask our friends not to die.” She ended her speech by singing “Happy Birthday”—a tribute to Nicholas Dworet, a student killed at Stoneman Douglas, who would have turned 18 that day.

González was one of the many speakers who followed Fuentes’s words. “Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen would never complain to me about piano practice,” she began as she acknowledged—one by one—each of the 17 victims killed on the 14th  of February.

These words were followed by a six minute and 20 second long silence—exactly how long it took for the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, to kill 17 and wound fifteen others. I watched a wave of fists rise in the air, offering love and support for González and all survivors of gun violence.