Rise Up Poem by Raj Choudary

I raise my fist high in the air,
As we march, the screams rise,
To avenge those lost in our very schools,
Rise up, rise up
We've been marching for months,
Screaming and shouting,
But what seems like every single day,
Another school shooting rolls into the headlines.
It creates a psychological scale in our minds,
On a scale from 1-50 dead kids,
How sad are you?
I raise my fist high in the sky,
And the memories of Parkland flood into my mind,
But as the numbers continue to roll,
I can only remember,
17,
17,
17,
And after a while,
When another school shooting happens,
People stop protesting,
Because the number is bigger than 17.
I raise my fist high in the sky,
As the Sante Fe shooting happens,
And Parkland suddenly feels irrelevant,
People aren't screaming and marching for our lives,
Because they only care about the numbers,
Not the people.
But I still care about the people,
And I still raise my hand I in the sky,
For all those lost,
All those losing,
And all those forgotten,
We will never forget,
Alyssa Alhadeff,
Scott Beigel,
Martin Duque Anguiano,
Nicholas Dworet,
Aaron Feis,
Jaime Guttenberg,
Chris Hixon,
Luke Hoyer,
Cara Loughran,
Gina Montalto,
Joaquin Oliver,
Alaina Petty,
Meadow Pollack,
Helena Ramsay,
Alex Schacter,
Carmen Schentrup,
Peter Wang,
I raise my fist high in the sky,
For not the numbers that continue to desensitize us,
But for the people whose stories will continue to inspire us,
To rise up,
And never stop.