Young Bay Area activists call for action in wake of recent mass shootings

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Young Bay Area activists are banning together in the wake of three mass shootings across the U.S. in just 10 days.

"Right now us students we're hiding under our desks for our lives," said Henry Shane, a community organizer, who just finished his freshman year of college. "We're barricading ourselves with books and desks and chairs for a weapon of war to walk our hall. That's not okay. That's not normal."

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Shane is one of the organizers of a vigil Friday event at Manny's - a civic engagement space in San Francisco's Mission District.

"This doesn't have to be this way. We don't have to continue to be okay with this suffering and immense violence," said Angelina Polselli, Manny's Event and Operations Manager. "We're going to make space at Manny's by any means necessary to have people come and share that anger and for us to say we don't have to continue on like this."

From young to old, 32 names were read aloud from the microphone; the photos of the victims gunned down in Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and Uvalde hanging on a wall behind.

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"This is our future that I'm fighting for - that Gen Z is fighting for this is why we're so passionate about it," said Tiana Day, Founder of Youth Advocates for Change. "Regardless of how burned out I get at the end of the day I know nobody's going to do anything about it unless I get out there and do something."

"This does not have to be the reality. This does not have to be normal. So we all need to do our part," added Shane. "Showing up to our state capitals and city halls and meeting with our legislators so they hear us the pain and everyday reality we're facing."

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