2018 – Hackensack NJ Rally/March for Our Lives, 3/24/18
Students from at least 18 high schools (and a lot of concerned citizens) converged on the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack last Saturday at a rally against gun violence. I’m not a big rally type, but this one was important. Plus – as a local historian and photographer – I wanted to document Hackensack’s part in the national March For Our Lives day.
What I really wanted was to somehow capture the entire scene in one image, in addition to photographically taking the pulse of the crowd and their signs in individual photos.
Here’s what I came up with:
Location
Signs
Why is everyone smiling? (don’t look, NRA)
This one got her game face back on:
State Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg:
US Representative Josh Gottheimer speaks……..
……..a student sings the National Anthem………
…….while General Enoch Poor listens. The general – a trusted associate of George Washington – is buried in the cemetery of the church you see on the right. Washington attended his funeral there.
You can see all of the above in the background of this crowd shot:
A future student worth protecting:
Two students addressing the crowd:
Two other crowd shots (gotta get at least ONE shot of the courthouse, right?):
As I was getting ready to leave, I came across this young girl carrying a much-larger friend that was wearing a #ENOUGH muscle shirt. This has to be my favorite shot of the event:
But I think my best “shot” – actually 5 photographs – is this photostitch that captures the entire crowd. To view it full-size, click on the image to partially enlarge it. Run the cursor over the image. You should see it become a plus sign. Click again for maximum enlargement. You will have to scroll from side-to-side to see the whole thing. To shrink it back down, click the image and then hit your back button.
The student organizers and everyone else did a great job. With all the other rallies/marches going on around the country, I didn’t see much coverage of Hackensack’s, so I’m proud to do my part for the right team.
BTW – after hearing some of the national anthem being sung, I liked her voice, so I recorded the rest. Unfortunately, she had to fight with a Public Parking sign for the attention of the camera’s focus. I was also late in recording a crowd chant of “Vote them out!”, so I only got the last 3 fading seconds of it. So as not to let it go to waste, I tacked it onto the end of the video.
It says my comment was too short and I just wanted to say Great job Bob!