March For Our Lives San Francisco

How many ways are there to demand that the US epidemic of weapons of mass destruction slaughtering students in their schools and people of color on their streets end immediately?

Apparently, as evidenced in San Francisco today and across the country, there is no end to them.

Early this afternoon a fired up crowd of thousands, led by the city's youth, showed a great many of those ways, raising their voices, signs and banners against the waves of violence that have been sweeping this nation for far too long.

Strong breezes blew across Civic Center plaza, seeming to symbolize the overwhelming need for immediate removal of this madness.

A sampling of some of the spoken, shouted and printed messages exhibited amongst the surging assembled points this out:

"Protect Our Kids, Not Guns. Who's Next? Paz No Armas. Not One More, Not Your Kids, Not My Kids."

"Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Las Vegas. What Did Congress Do? NOTHING. Never Again!"

"Love Babies Not Bullets. Guns Be Gone. Girls Dress Codes Are More Regulated Than Guns In America."

"Kids Need To Read and Write, Not Duck And Cover. NRA Go Away. You Can Put A Silencer On A Gun, But Not Our Voices."

At about 3 p.m. the rally turned into a march, heading over to Market Street for a procession to The Embarcadero. But back in the plaza, another rally was just beginning.

This one was led by the family and supporters of Sahleem Tindle, a 28 year old African American man who was killed by three shots in the back by a BART cop on March 20 near the West Oakland BART station.

His mother, Yolanda Tingle, who has supported other mothers who have lost their sons to police gun violence declared, "He was only 28 years old and his life was taken-imagine how you would feel? Mothers are the carriers of life. I'm here because I have to be. Our children are being taken from out community every day."

Banners and signs proclaimed, "Justice For Sahleem, Mothers Fighting Back, and Such a Mess, No Justice" and people raised their voices to make their messages loud and clear.