Marchers demand to live without fear

At the Silver Lake playground in Rehoboth Beach, as perhaps 1,500 people gathered for the March For Our Lives, the voice of 11-year-old Sara Freih rose into the sky as she sang the national anthem.

Sara's stunning voice immediately let everyone know something new was about to happen.

Her voice is remarkably mature and at the same time filled with promise, exactly like each of the students who spoke at the event, by all accounts the largest gathering of its type in Rehoboth history.

Critics denounced both the local and national March For Our Lives events, saying young people leading them were pawns of adults who oppose the president, and a few signs in Rehoboth and Lewes might support that view.

But those who attended the rallies could have no doubt that the many young people who made their own signs and those who addressed the crowds were speaking for themselves, and they were speaking from the heart.

They said children should be able to go to school without fear, that children should be able to have lunch with their friends and swing on swings without fear, and without getting shot.

Speaking at the Bandstand in Rehoboth, where two counterprotesters unfurled a huge, "Don't tread on me" flag, Delaware State University student Jalyn Powell said marchers were not out to take away anyone's right to bear arms. Instead, she said, the key words are gun control – controlling access to guns so people who are mentally unstable can't get them.

"We need to make America great again," she said. "And that starts by making America safe again."

Safe schools and safe streets are a platform that voters across the political spectrum must find a way to support.

As Sussex Tech's Josh Hoffpauir told the crowd, young people are marching for a cause that stretches beyond party lines, united in a call to end gun violence.

"Change is coming," he told the crowd. "We will not stop until we are no longer confined in fear."