March For Our Lives Just Wants Kids To Feel Safe In School

This year’s legislative session activated young Iowans to speak out on issues ranging from private schools to LGBTQ rights to gun violence. Starting Line connected with members of some of the student groups leading the action and invited them to talk about how their organizations work, what inspired them to get involved, and what the future holds for them. This is part two of a multi-part series. You can read part one here.

Increased restrictions on gun ownership are harder to pass in Iowa now that a new voter-approved amendment to the Iowa Constitution declares any laws have to pass a high standard to take effect. However, that won’t stop the students in the Iowa chapter of March For Our Lives, an organization that seeks to end gun violence in America.

“It really makes you feel like you’re having an impact, even if like you don’t get your way with a lot of things,” said Josue Aleman, the communications director for the Iowa chapter of March For Our Lives. “It still always like gives you that reminder that at least you’re trying and at least you’re doing something which is always better than just watching from the sidelines.”

Josue is a graduating senior at East High School in Des Moines. He and Akshara Eswar, the executive director of the chapter, said it’s important to keep looking forward.

Akshara, a junior at Johnston High School, said the group’s legislative strategy this year had to change when the amendment passed in 2022.

Instead of calling for bans on certain weapons or for restrictions, they’ve focused on having conversations about small measures, especially with legislators, to explain their point of view. A lot of the organizing work the Iowa chapter does is finding new members and focusing on smaller, common-sense gun policies.

“Usually there’s always people that are willing to talk to us,” Akshara said. “I think at the end of the day when we show them that all we want is just change, like we’re not coming for their guns, we’re not trying to take away their guns, we just want policy and we just want change so that we can keep them safely, a lot of them tend to be open to talking about it.”

Legislators have shut them down a few times, but Akshara said that just means the students have to move on and continue talking to those who will listen.

Why They Joined

Josue was inspired to join the group after a shooting outside of East High School in 2022.

“I had never really been too involved like I kept up with politics, but I’d never actually been involved with organizing or doing anything specifically,” he said. “And then that happened, and then I realized it’s probably time to actually start trying to help.”

March For Our Lives was started after the Feb. 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It sparked nationwide demonstrations and walkouts by students demanding some kind of legislation to prevent mass shootings.

Akshara got involved in 2020 when she was reading about the Parkland school shooting and other recent mass shootings. She said she realized how much the issue affected her while she was reading, and that inspired her to reach out and join the group as the diversity and inclusion director.

Organizing Strategy

During legislative sessions, most of the focus is on monitoring proposed laws. March For Our Lives Iowa has legislative directors, who will lay out the group’s plans for the session at an annual press conference when the session begins. After that, organizing means hosting events such as walkouts, demonstrations at the Iowa Capitol, and membership.

Akshara said this year they’ve seen a big increase in numbers.

“That’s been really impressive to me because we’ve been seeing that so many people are interested, especially after so many of these issues have come up recently,” Akshara said.

Now, she leads a team of 20-25 people at the state level. There are also individual, local chapters across the state, including new ones in eastern and southwest Iowa.

There are regular meetings for members on the state and the local chapter levels, but Josue said social media is the surest way to be aware of events.

Instagram and Facebook are the biggest platforms for March For Our Lives Iowa. At the moment, the group is focused on finding new officers to replace the graduating seniors.

Akshara explained that there’s a shock value to organizing and having a legislative session full of controversial issues has trained a lot of attention on the groups who are organizing in protest of those issues.

Being a student-run organization means there are a lot of crossover interests too.  Josue said that has led to more attention and turnout for their events and more connections to other student activists.

That’s one of the best parts about being student organizers, Akshara said.

“For me personally, it’s made me feel very, I don’t want to say accepted, but it’s like understood because at the end of the day, these are all student issues,” she said. “It’s also very helpful for us to keep going knowing that we have the support that we do have. After every event, I always have some mom or grandma or teacher coming up to me and telling me that they really think that we’re great for doing this. And it reminds you that there’s a reason that you’re doing this, and there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. There’s going to be something good someday.”

Nikoel Hytrek
5/19/23

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