My name is Addie Bukhari, and I’m a sophomore at Castro Valley High School. I am the founder and president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and I also organized the 17-Minute Walkout on March 14th, along with members from World Citizen, and the Black Student Union.

After the shooting, I remember how scared I was. I recall a fire alarm going off a few days after the Parkland shooting, and I saw the fear on my classmates’ faces. I thought to myself, “We should never be scared at school. We come to school to get an education, to plan our future, not to live in constant fear.” When a student feels unsafe on campus, it affects their ability to focus on their education, it’s like we’re constantly walking on eggshells. We’re constantly thinking, “Are we the next Parkland?” I realized that the hundreds of mass shootings were now considered normal in America.

That’s when I realized that we needed to do something. I noticed how our nation, how students, were responding to this.  I first got the idea of organizing a walkout once I saw that the fearless Emma Gonzalez, a Parkland survivor was standing up and saying enough is enough. I watched her speeches and her interviews with Dana Loesch, a National Rifle Association (NRA) spokeswoman. Gonzalez’s heroism inspired me to stand up for my community and my beloved town. I realized that I would hate for something as tragic as a mass shooting to happen in Castro Valley. As a student, I felt the need to stand up for myself and my fellow classmates now, rather than later.

I personally wanted to get a better insight on guns, so I held a “pros and cons” style meeting so that students could see both sides of the argument. I planned this meeting with the MSA and World Citizen a few weeks after the shooting. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss how we can establish a sense of security and understand both sides of the gun control issue. I strongly believe that people are entitled to their own opinion.

Throughout the meeting I made sure that it was respectful, and I wanted to hear both sides, whether you’re pro-guns or anti-guns. My goal was to help people understand each other’s perspective. Our goal wasn’t to take away the Second Amendment, but to fight for our safety.

I was shocked that around 70-80 students showed up in a small classroom, including a handful of teachers and our principal. I believe that it was a very insightful meeting, and students who attended (including myself) were able to obtain some knowledge. Regardless of what side you were on, everyone at the meeting was passionate about one thing: student safety. We shouldn’t be worried about a possible school shooting happening on our campus.

A few weeks later, and I’m surrounded by about 100-150 students. We’re chanting things like, “USA not NRA!” and “Student safety over guns!” I was so proud of my school, my fellow classmates, and my community. I was especially encouraged by my fellow students and staff at Creekside and Canyon Middle Schools, who boldly participated in the Walkout. Our demonstration was intended to be peaceful, not to defy the school or use it as an excuse to skip class. It was to say enough is enough.

There have been too many mass shootings, particularly on school campuses, and we’ve had enough.

We stood in solidarity with the victims of gun violence and mass shootings that have occurred at Stoneman Douglas High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School, to name a few. We chanted, had a rally, and we had insightful speeches by other students. We sat on the cold wet ground in silence to honor those who have lost their lives in a school shooting.

We demand that our government nationwide acts now, starting with our congressman, Eric Swalwell. We demand that Congress bans assault weapons and high capacity magazines, enact stricter background checks on all gun sales, pass a federal gun violence restraining order law, fund government research on gun violence, and promote safe storage.

Until then, we will continue to say “enough is enough” because we are the next generation.

We have a voice, and we will not be silenced.