ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

How proud we were of the teenagers, high school kids from around Bergen County, who spoke at the March for Our Lives rally that took place on the steps of the Bergen County Courthouse on March 24.  Organized by these youngsters in less than 6 weeks as a response to the Parkland, FL massacre on February 14, hundreds of men, women, teenagers, children in strollers took on the NRA, the gun lobby, the gun manufacturers, the politicians who refuse to vote for safer gun control laws.  Enough is enough!

With wonderfully-creative signs such as 21^st Century Weapons – 18^th Century Laws and No More Silence, End Gun Violence, the audience roared its approval to the myriad speeches by teenagers who spoke of their fear in just going to school every day.  These students, mostly not yet of voting age, are eager to register to vote and participate in the November midterm election and in the 2020 presidential contest.  Their message was loud and clear:  Enough is enough!

We were energized by Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-5^th District); by Steny Hoyer, Congressman from Maryland; James Tedesco III, Bergen County Executive; and our own Loretta Weinberg, State Senator Majority Leader (D-37th District).  Joining these elected officials was Tammy Murphy, wife of NJ Governor Phil Murphy, while he   attended a rally in Newark.

Many NCJW Bergen County Section members participated in this rally as well as those in Englewood, Newark, Asbury Park, New York City and Washington D.C.  Our voices are being heard, lifted by those of the Millennial generation.  This may be a moment in history, but hopefully it is also a movement – one that won’t fizzle until the gun laws are changed and our children and grandchildren can go to school each day and only worry about the next test, the next paper and, as one teenage speaker said, what’s on the lunch menu.  These kids are amazing.  We must do everything we can to support them.  Enough is enough!

Click photos to enlarge.