As the president spoke, a slight rain dampened the main road that runs through Newtown, and a band of out-of-towers from the South marched in double file. The marching band’s leader, Adrian Roe, said the students had traveled from Huntsville, Alabama to Newtown to express their solidarity with the community.
“We came up here to support the people of Sandy Hook,” said Roe. “We drove all night to come here…We were in Miami doing our annual fundraising, heard the news on Friday, and on Saturday we decided we had to come.”
At the front of the procession the group carried a banner reading, “Remember the Children.” They were followed at various points along the road by somber teenagers tearful adults, and three women from Norway and Denmark who came to participate in the candlelight vigil. For them, the murders of 20 children brought back memories of the summer camp massacre in July 2011 by a lone gunman in Norway’s capital, Oslo. That tragedy took 77 lives.
The massacre of six and seven olds and their teachers has also — once again — brought the issue of gun violence to the surface. For these women from Oslo it has special resonance.
“I don’t understand why it’s allowed — why you can carry a gun, why people need it,” one of the women expressed. “Why do you need it? To be safe? It’s obviously not working.”
As the solemn procession made its way along Newtown main road, they passed several hand painted signs placed on various corners. One read: “Together We Are Strong.” Another read: “Heaven must have been short on 27 angels. He took them from us, all at once.”
