11-year-old student at DC rally: I am not a tool of ‘some nameless adult’

Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old elementary school student from Virginia, addressed thousands gathered at an anti-gun violence rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, urging people to speak out for minority women who are victims of gun violence.

“People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own. People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It is not true,” Wadler said onstage at the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C.

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The student said that, even though she might be young, she understands the issues that are currently being debated and is looking forward to the day she and her classmates can vote.

“My friends and I might still be 11, and we might still be in elementary school but we know. We know that life isn’t equal for everyone and we know what is right and wrong,” Wadler said. “We also know that we stand in the shadow of the Capitol, and we know that we have seven short years until we too have the right to vote.”

Wadler told the crowd that she was speaking for the African-American women who are victims of gun violence and asked others to join her in advocating for these women.

“I urge everyone here and everyone who hears my voice to join me in telling the stories that aren’t told,” Wadler said. “To honor the girls and the women of color who are murdered at disproportionate rates in this nation.”

The “March for Our Lives” rally in D.C. was largely organized by survivors of the Florida high school shooting that left 17 people dead.

Sibling rallies were organized in hundreds of cities around the world. In D.C., the organizers obtained a permit for 500,000 people to attend the rally downtown.