Lindsey Hartman is ready now. A survivor of the Highland Park parade massacre, it’s taken nine months to overcome her fears and step outside to support a cause that is at the heart of her survival.
Hartman joins more than 1,000 others, including about 200 moms from the Chicago area, who will march Monday afternoon on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to demand an end to assault weapons.
“When you think your child is going to be murdered in front of your face, it changes who you are,” Hartman told the Tribune. “It’s not normal. We’ve allowed it to become normal in our country. It’s insane.”
Hartman was not able to leave her home for a long time after the attack, when she and her husband threw themselves on top of their then 4 1/2-year-old daughter as parade-goers standing next to them were shot. Bodies and blood were scattered before their eyes.
“This is not about me — it’s so much bigger than me,” Hartman said. “This is a public health crisis. I cannot sit back — it’s too important for my fears to stop me from doing what I want to do.”
The event, named SOS, Save Our Students, was organized by the nonprofit advocacy group March Fourth, founded by Winnetka’s Kitty Brandtner.
“It’s a singular mission to federally ban assault weapons — an SOS to Congress,” said Brandtner, who said this year’s march is double the size of last year’s.
We’ve been pushing for this legislation for the past nine months, she said. “We will scream at the top of our lungs and demand change.”
For Hartman, the march has been a long time coming. Since the massacre, she has been actively volunteering, making calls to lawmakers and donating, but she had higher hopes.
“I don’t feel safe most places,” Hartman said. “Your brain becomes very altered after a horrific experience like this.
“Days and weeks and months have gone by … I keep pushing myself. I’ve always wanted to be standing alongside these larger groups and have my voice heard, demanding our legislators to listen,” she said. “But now I feel I have built up some strength.”
Hartman’s daughter, Scarlett, “was dancing, having the time of her life” as gunfire from an assault rifle rang out at the parade.
“My husband and I locked eyes. He was already in motion to grab her, I just looked at him and said: ‘Protect her. Do whatever you have to do. Don’t worry about me. Just go,’" Hartman said. “I knew if he turned around it would slow him down. Her survival was the only thing that mattered.”
Kelly Zelmanski, an Elmhurst mom and graphic designer for the cause, said the journey will be cathartic for her. “I’m marching because there’s a lot at play … and voting has been the extent of my efforts,” to support ending gun violence.
Her two children, ages 2 and 4, will stay home with her husband while she makes it a day trip. “I’m feeling compelled to go march because I’m feeling kind of helpless.”
“Just showing up” is a visible way to urge Congress to make changes, Zelmanski said.
The group, donning bright T-shirts and holding signage, will step off just before noon and walk about a mile. Though the major demographic happens to be mothers, there will be men, 20-somethings and students attending.
“I think it’s just aggravated and impacted Americans who are sick of living this way,” Brandtner said. “Children being murdered in their schools, and America is just turning the page.”
According to March Fourth, American children have been traumatized by 107 school shootings and 155 mass shootings so far in 2023. This number has sharply increased in recent years, and according to the K-12 School Shooting Database, 2018 and 2019 saw 119 school shootings each, and 2021 and 2022 witnessed 250 and 303, respectively.
“I can’t sit back and not stand up for change and say nothing,” Hartman said. “Nobody should have to experience what we experienced and so many have in the last nine months.”
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