Parkland Survivors’ Road to Change Tour Rolls Through OC This Weekend

March for Our Lives in Santa Ana. Photo by Felicity Figueroa

Students from Parkland, Florida are set to pay Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher a visit at his office on Saturday as part of their “Road to Change” tour. The scheduled stop comes on the heels of the lawmaker’s controversial clip in Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who is America? where he appeared to endorse the program’s satirical “Kinder Guardians” push to put guns in the hands of school children to prevent mass shootings, a coincidental timing not lost on organizers. 

The Road to Change tour began on June 15 with a peace march in Chicago. It’s taking on 50 stops in 20 states, including NRA strongholds, with the objective of registering young people to vote while shining a light on politicians who sit on their hands after every mass shooting (That’s where Dana comes in!)

Survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 17 people in February, will be joined by local liberal groups March for Our Lives OC, Huntington Beach March for Our Lives, Indivisible OC 48, and Organizing for Action for this weekend’s events that only begin at Rohrabacher’s office. The groups are banding together for a rally in front of Jack’s Surf Shop on Main Street at 11 a.m. Saturday morning in support of the drop-in on Dana. 

After the Rohrabacher office visit, the tour turns to Christ Our Redeemer AME Church in Irvine later than afternoon for a panel discussion at 2 p.m. Parkland survivors, who launched a student-led movement for gun control in the wake of the massacre, join with Huntington Beach students who organized a walk out and March for Our Lives demonstration in their city. The church is also where activists will be doing a voter registration drive. 

Capping a busy schedule for the day, action returns back to Huntington Beach Pier Plaza at 6:30 p.m. for a candlelight vigil in remembrance of those killed by gun violence. After a set of speeches at sunset, a vigil procession to HB city beach lifeguard tower 7 follows where all will gather for a barbecue and bonfire.

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