Sheryl Sandberg supports walkout against gun violence, posts powerful message on Facebook

Exactly one month back, on February 14, there was a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida which left 17 people dead and prompted heated arguments, activism and even some legislative action around guns.

Now, students and school staff across the US are commemorating the Florida school shooting with a walkout, after the brutal killings.

They are stopping lessons for 17 minutes in memory of the 17-people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Pupils at the school, which was targeted by a former student, hugged each other on the football field. They bowed their heads in honour of the dead. They carried signs with messages like 'Never again' and 'Am I next?'
They railed against the National Rifle Association and the politicians who support it.

And over and over, they repeated the message: Enough is enough.

Joining the debate was Facebook's COO, Sheryl Sandberg. She posted a powerful message on her Facebook account condemning the attacks and the policies and participating in the walkout.

Sandberg mentions in the note, that her 10-year-old daughter asked a poignant question when she got to know about the protest. The young girl asked, if a shooter will come during the staging of the protests, because that way they will be able to shoot at a lot of people.

Sandberg recalled that although she experienced deep pain on losing her husband, but she cannot even imagine the trauma that parents go through when their child goes to school in the morning but does not return because of a massacre. She also pointed out that US is probably the only country in the world that allows children to live in fear and die because of a truly terrible public policy on guns.



Students around the nation left class at 10 a.m. local time for at least 17 minutes _ one minute for each of the dead in the Florida shooting. Some led marches or rallied on football fields, while others gathered in school gyms or took a knee in the hallway.

They lamented that too many young people have died and that they're tired of going to school afraid they will be killed.

Another protest against gun violence is scheduled in Washington on March 24, with organizers saying it is expected to draw hundreds of thousands.

But whether the students can make a difference on Capitol Hill remains to be seen.

The walkouts drew support from companies such as media conglomerate Viacom, which paused programming on MTV, BET, Nickelodeon and its other networks for 17 minutes during the walkouts.

(With inputs from AP)