Twitter Commends Student Who Showed up to Protest Alone

Student Justin Blackman was the sole participant at his North Carolina high school in Wednesday’s national walkouts protesting gun violence, and people on social media love the 16-year-old for it.

Blackman posted a video of his one-man walkout on Twitter, swivelling from side to side to show the empty area all around him.

“Um, hello Twitter,” he began. “There are like, six people watching this, hopefully. That’s about it. But it’s national walkout day and I’m the only one in my school out here. I didn’t really get into it too much, no one really said anything besides my home room teacher. I was in his class right now, he let me walk out, he didn’t really care, so I’m just gonna be chilling here for the next 15 minutes. Bye.”

Blackman received a wave of support for the video, including Chelsea Clinton. “You’re not alone,” the daughter of former President Bill Clinton tweetd.

Students across the country were walking out of classes Wednesday in a nationally organized protest against gun violence and school shootings. Many schools have threatened to suspend students for the offense, and they’ve taken it anyway. However, users seem equally impressed with Blackman, who walked out to no resistance except the social norms.

“Thank you for standing up for the next generation of kids to come through the school system all over the country,” one person wrote.

“It means even more that you did this alone!” replied another. “That takes a lot of courage. Keep that with you. There are millions of people around the world that stand [with] you, and admire your bravery.”

One of the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School responded to Blackman as well. The walkouts were organized on the one month anniversary of the Parlkand, Florida school shooting, where 17 were killed.

“Hi Justin I’m a student at Stoneman Douglas,” wrote another student activist named Lexi. “I’m inspired by you for being a leader. Thank you Every little thing makes a difference.”

Blackman responded to many of the tweets he received, including this one. “Thank you for being so strong,” he wrote. “I’m proud that my word got to where I wanted to get and that’s to the American people who want justice.”

Since his video went viral, Blackman has soared to over 3,700 followers at the time of this writing.