From Parkland to Bradenton, a ‘revolution’ is coming to Manatee with March for Our Lives

“Mom, we need a revolution.” That’s what 15-year-old Julia Dortch told her mother after the fatal school shootings in Parkland.

Though she wondered if her voice would even be heard, the sophomore at State College of Florida Collegiate School now expects hundreds to show up to the March for Our Lives event Saturday in Bradenton.

Dortch’s mom, Debra Tucci-Therrien, showed her a video of one of the student activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that sparked her interest in doing more than talking.

“That really just inspired me, saying I need to do something, this is not OK,” Dortch said.

With support from her government teacher, mother and fellow students, Dortch organized the March for Our Lives event, which will meet at noon Saturday at the Riverwalk amphitheater. She’s had an outpouring of support.

“It’s been really, really helpful and honestly, it pushed me to continue with this entire situation,” Dortch said. “I’m glad people are hearing what a couple high-schoolers have to say.”

Hundreds of planned marches are part of the nationwide March for Our Lives movement, started by student survivors of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland. Seventeen people were killed after a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and accused shooter Nikolas Cruz, 19, is facing 17 first-degree murder charges.

According to the March for Our Lives website, those participating demand an end to gun violence and school shootings and that “their lives and safety become a priority.” More than 800 marches are scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C. and in cities throughout the country Saturday, the March for Our Lives website shows.

Two marches are planned for Saturday in Manatee County: Dortch’s noon march at the Riverwalk amphitheater in downtown Bradenton, and another will begin at 9 a.m. at The Learning Experience, 14425 Arbor Green Trail in Lakewood Ranch.

Additional details can be found on the marches’ Facebook event pages or the Walk for Our Lives event page.

In the days after the Parkland shootings, Tucci-Therrien said she realized that violence seemed to be getting closer to home. She spotted a Facebook post from a friend who had children at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She also knows someone who lost a significant other in the 2016 shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando.

“We seem to be talking about this type of event too often in our house,” Tucci-Therrien said.

After a conversation on Valentine’s Day, Dortch looked at her mother and told her they need a revolution. So they turned their discussion to action and eventually found March for Our Lives.

“I told her, before she decides what she wants to do, she needs to get very educated and she did,” Tucci-Therrien said. “I’m more than proud; proud is not even really a big enough word for this.”

It’s not the first movement in the community, or even for Dortch, demanding change following the Parkland shooting.

Students at high schools and universities throughout Manatee County participated in the National School Walkout, when students left class for 17 minutes on March 14 to stand with the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and demand action from legislators.

Dortch said she helped run the walkout at SCF Collegiate School.

In the Manatee County School District, the walkouts were kept to school campuses, and members of the community were not able to participate except outside of school property. March for Our Lives events are open to the public.

Gov. Rick Scott signed a gun and school safety bill into law on March 9 that, in part, approved a three-day waiting period for the purchase of all firearms, raised the age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, banned the sale of bump stocks in Florida and included new school safety programs. Almost immediately, the National Rifle Association argued the law violates the Second Amendment and filed a federal lawsuit to block the provision that raises the age to buy guns.

The march at The Learning Experience in Lakewood Ranch will be held at the same time as a Literacy Fair, what the organization called a “celebration of early childhood reading,” according to the Facebook event page. A book fair will be open to the public, while vendors games and food will also be available. A raffle will raise funds to purchase books for charities in the Manatee County area.

Information from the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau is included in this report.

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 1:20 PM with the headline "From Parkland to Bradenton, a ‘revolution’ is coming to Manatee with March for Our Lives."