Mother Liberty CME's freedom school leads march against gun violence

“Protect children and not guns, protect children and not guns.”

Today members of the Mother Liberty CME Church's Freedom School and the Hub Club marched to promote awareness for gun violence both in the Hub city and the nation at large.

This was part of the children defense fund’s national day of social action.

“Everybody nationwide who are in the children defense fund’s freedom schools will be focusing today on this particular issue.”

The day of social action is designed to boost awareness in the community and more importantly amongst the young participants about the year’s selected topic.

“The more they know, the better protected they are.”

But the marching and chanting weren’t the only part of the day. The kids also heard from local law enforcement about the dangers of gun violence.

Tanya rivers, whose son was killed in a shooting in February, also spoke to the kids.

She had an emotional plea for them.

“Ya’ll have a whole life, a whole future! You are the future! Ya’ll have something to do! Yall have a life to live! But you cant live it if you’re not here to live it.”

As for the children. A lot of them hope that today’s movement will boost awareness for other kids in the city.

“I felt like I was helping a lot of kids and making sure they don’t die”

According to the children’s defense fund, over 3,400 and teens died because of gun violence in 2017