The Obama Generation Is Here

Ok, this is the "best of times" part.  Start with the New York Times:

Demonstrators flooded streets across the globe in public protests on Saturday, calling for action against gun violence. Hundreds of thousands of marchers turned out, in the most ambitious show of force yet from a student-driven movement that emerged after the recent massacre at a South Florida high school.

Yolanda Renee King, the 9 year old granddaughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at the Washington demo:

"My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," she said, referencing her grandfather's famous speech. "I have a dream that enough is enough. That this should be a gun-free world. Period."

Celebrities, political and otherwise, joined, including Paul McCartney at the New York demo, held near where John Lennon was shot and killed.

President Obama tweeted:

Michelle and I are so inspired by all the young people who made today’s marches happen. Keep at it. You’re leading us forward. Nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

New Yorker report on the Washington march included:

By noon, it was impossible to move easily through the crowd. Teens waved homemade signs (“Hunting Season is Over”; “No, I’m Pretty Sure Guns Kill People”) and huddled together for photos. Poppy Fleming, a nine-year-old student at Hartwood Elementary, in Stafford County, Virginia, stood with Deborah and Michael Fleming, her grandparents. She held up a sign decorated with the names and locations of various mass shootings. In the middle, she’d written, in magic marker, “Am I Next?”

“We can teach her about civil disobedience,” Deborah said. “We can teach her how to vote.”

Boston

A Politico story included details of the Washington march:

The city’s public transportation system was bracing for long lines and crowds. Restaurants offered discounted meals to marchers and the ride-sharing app Lyft offered free rides to the march. Local families have been offering up their homes to students with nowhere to stay.

It goes on:
Many adults took to the streets, too, saying they were inspired by personal experiences with gun violence. Danny Robb, a 64-year-old retired Air Force colonel, traveled from than 7,000 miles from Okinawa, Japan to Washington. On March 24, 1998 — 20 years ago today— two gunmen shot up his daughter’s middle school in Jonesboro, Arkansas, killing five people. She happened to stay home that day, but a friend she sat next to in class was killed.

Now, Robb said he hopes young people will succeed where his generation fell short.  “In the military, you’re taught that to be a good leader you have to be a good follower,” Robb said. “And the kids need to take the lead on this.”

Marches across the world and across the US included an estimated 30,000 in downtown Pittsburgh, one of the largest political gathering there ever.

The Hill: seven memorable moments from the Washington event.

History may see this as the first action of the Obama Generation.  When we marched on Washington in 1963, we changed the country and changed the world. There have been many marches since that have had lesser effect.  Only time will tell about this one.  But it clearly says there is a hopeful element in the coming generations, and their influence may well be felt soon, even if they can't vote yet, through parents and those they persuade with their intelligence and passion.  (They register a ton of voters on Saturday.)