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.”

Palau's President Surangel Whipps Jr. speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General ...

Associated Press

‘We’re not giving up’: Beset by climate change, island nations act as conscience of a warming world

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — When Palau President Surangel Samuel Whipps Jr. recently took his children to his nation’s Helen Island, two-thirds of it was gone. Rising seas caused by climate change had swallowed generational burial grounds, washing away a people’s entire culture and identity. “For us, it’s devastating,” Whipps told The Associated Press on Friday, […]

2 hours ago

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng speaks during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assem...

Associated Press

China, as usual, uses UN speech to promote global development as solution to world’s challenges

NEW YORK (AP) — A day after his boss met with President Donald Trump in Washington, China’s vice president unfurled the nation’s familiar list of global talking points, emphasizing development, issuing mild statements about the U.S. war with Iran, artificial intelligence and protectionism, and making no direct mention of Taiwan. Han Zheng’s speech to the […]

2 hours ago

FILE - Michael Davis, of Bellwood, Ala., picks up a sign supporting Doug Jones for governor after a...

Associated Press

Southern Democrats see hope for first time in years, seek to build on discontent of midterm voters

DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — People crowded shoulder to shoulder upstairs in a south Alabama coffee shop, in a region sometimes called the reddest in the heavily conservative state. They were there to hear Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee for governor and the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama. “Alabama has been under Republican […]

5 hours ago

Associated Press

Roads flood in New Jersey, inundate some homes, as major signs of nor’easter take shape

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — More than 70,000 customers were without electricity in the U.S. Northeast on Saturday, the sign of a powerful nor’easter expected to create dangerous conditions through the weekend. Forecasters warned of gale winds that could down trees and heavy inundations that could put roads underwater. Tens of millions of people are in […]

5 hours ago

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., talks about the policies of President Donald Trump a...

Associated Press

House Democrats plan vast oversight of Trump administration. Impeachment is an option

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda, with investigations of President Donald Trump, his family and his administration if the party sweeps control of the chamber from Republicans in the November elections. The undertaking is a robust as it is daunting, spanning several House committees. With majority power comes bigger budgets […]

5 hours ago

seattle police response times...

Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin Show

‘We’re chasing our tail’: KIRO hosts warn Seattle’s 911 response times reveal a problem no new chief can fix alone

Seattle's police response times raise concerns with KIRO hosts as they warn no chief can solve this issue alone.

5 hours ago

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