SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Father says his daughter is being pressured to walk out on Wednesday

Mar 10, 2018, 10:01 PM | Updated: Mar 11, 2018, 8:57 am

gun control, Rep. Rick Larsen calls for school safety funding...

Student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are greeted as they arrive at a rally for gun control reform. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

He’s a Western Washington father. His daughter attends a high school where she is in a leadership position. He wants to remain anonymous to spare his kid from further ridicule over a contentious gun control issue.

“(Other students) are telling her, ‘I can’t believe that you won’t walk out’ or that ‘you are making this political,’” he told the Dori Monson Show. “She’s like, ‘I’m not the one who is making this political’ … if you are saying this is to honor those students who have fallen, let’s not have it on a day that’s defined around the parameters of a political movement group. That makes it political.”

RELATED: Washington passes bump stock ban

Students across America will walk out of class on March 14 — the one month anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It is a separate demonstration than the Florida students have planned on March 24 — March for Our Lives. This march is organized through the Women’s March website. The website calls for students and faculty to walk out of class for 17 minutes in honor of the 17 lives lost in the Parkland shooting.

Gun control or memorial?

The girl’s father says his daughter is being pressured to take part. His daughter is a hunter and shoots for target practice.

“The thing that pushed me over the edge is that when my child is in a classroom, in a leadership position, and is being told by teachers that, ‘You really need to take ownership and lead this protest; this is your civil rights moment and you need to be actively engaged’ … I don’t think that’s right,” he said.

“’Coerce’ is a tough word,” he added. “They are great teachers. I think they honestly think they are doing the right thing. They were using their influence … so many of these kids look up to them. When they are told, ‘Hey, you really need to jump in here and lead; This is your moment,’ they feel passionate about it. Which is fine, they can do that. But their job is to teach kids how to think, not what to think.”

The father feels that the march is hijacked by a left-leaning political perspective. He says that Conservative viewpoints would not be entertained by schools.

“It immediately jumped to mind that if you are a Conservative leader and you take objection to the money being funneled from the government to Planned Parenthood and you want to plan an equivalent protest for all the lives you feel that have been lost through that … that would be laughed out of the classroom,” the father said.

“You have a right to protest, absolutely,” he said. “But don’t be telling my child, my under 18 child, that you should be protesting this, this, and this.”

FILE - Jessie Liu, then U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, speaks during a news conference...

Associated Press

Judge wants former US attorney to investigate whether the government misled her in Trump golf case

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge said Saturday she intends to appoint an ex-top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital during President Donald Trump’s first term to investigate whether she was purposefully misled by lawyers and administration officials in a lawsuit challenging one of his prized Washington construction projects, the renovation of a historic public […]

49 minutes ago

Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman speaks on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Jae C. H...

Associated Press

Nithya Raman to take charge in LA amid homeless crisis and political division

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In her bid for Los Angeles mayor, Nithya Raman ran as an outsider. The democratic socialist didn’t win a single endorsement from her 14 colleagues on the city council. The police union opposed her, she had friction with the Jewish community and the Democratic establishment lined up squarely behind the incumbent, […]

4 hours ago

Associated Press

Berkshire Hathaway buys back $9.6 billion of its own stock but its profits declined

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway repurchased $9.6 billion worth of its own shares in the third quarter, but Geico disappointed and its overall profit fell more than 28% as the value of its investments changed. But the buybacks likely came to a halt recently as Berkshire’s Class A stock price surged past $878,000 and […]

4 hours ago

Options traders, including Ravi Bhandari, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange...

Associated Press

From high-flying AI stocks to tariff-hit alcohol companies, the midterms shook up Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP) — The overwhelming victory by the Democrats in the midterm elections shook up Wall Street this week. The biggest tremors were felt in shares of companies tied to the boom in artificial intelligence on concerns that a Democratic Congress will put the brakes on further development of data centers. Defense and oil […]

5 hours ago

First lady Melania Trump speaks during a meeting with Russian and Ukrainian representatives in the ...

Associated Press

Melania Trump and LSU are set to announce a scholarship program for students who were in foster care

WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump was headed to Louisiana on Saturday to announce a partnership between Louisiana State University and her “Fostering the Future” program to provide scholarships for LSU students who came through the foster care system. The first lady also planned to attend the LSU-Alabama football game in the afternoon. The foster care […]

5 hours ago

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a election night event at a hotel on...

Associated Press

House Democrats will start their majority focused on boosting healthcare and ending the Iran war

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leaders are placing an early emphasis on healthcare as they discuss their immediate priorities upon the swearing-in of the new Congress on Jan. 3. Early votes in the House next year are expected to focus on boosting Medicaid and restoring an enhanced tax subsidy that is designed to lower the […]

5 hours ago

Father says his daughter is being pressured to walk out on Wednesday