Junior Simoon Saiyed defends her beliefs against costumed Spider-Man at gun protest

It’s the middle of the school day, and junior Simoon Saiyed is arguing with someone dressed in a Spider-Man costume at the foot of the Texas State Capital over gun control. For students like Saiyed, expression is one of the most important aspects of creating change, so, naturally, she could not stay away from the National School Walkout on April 20 to protest gun laws in America.

The walkout took place on a Friday during the end of second period until the beginning of fourth. Students gathered downtown at Woolridge Park around 12:30 p.m. and walked from there to the Capital. From there, the event featured guest speakers to rally the crowd.

“All the students throughout the U.S. inspired me to walk out, and history has shown the political power that students can have when they choose to take action,” Saiyed said. “Taking action, especially for something that is being advocated to protect young human lives, is so incredibly important because you can’t just ignore the issue and assume it will go away.”

The Bowie administration did not publicize walkout information or specifically endorse student protest since it was during school hours, but they respected students’ first amendment rights by not punishing students for their decision. Students who walked out were not required to sign out of school but received an unexcused absence for the classes they missed. They were also allowed back to class during fourth period.

“I was in support of the right of students to walk out and stand up for what they believe,” AP Biology teacher Jessica Davis said. “We shouldn’t minimize any group’s desire to improve the world around them just because they are not of a certain age or the timing isn’t perfect, [like] during a school day. If we can spend hours in standardized testing, a walkout shouldn’t be considered too intrusive on our time.”

While protesting, Saiyed and her peers encountered a right-winged activist who was carrying a ‘Come and Take It’ flag with art depicting a gun instead of a cannon. Saiyed noted how the person was wearing a Spider-Man costume that masked their face and body, and that they and their friends had attracted a crowd that was having a discussion about gun laws.

“We were intrigued so we stopped to listen, and Spider-Man began spewing nonsense about how illegal immigrants are the ones who commit most shootings,” Saiyed said. “We started getting into a heated argument with the guy, except anytime we asked for proof or an actual historical explanation, he would talk about a completely different subject. He wasn’t even able to straight up say what he believed in; a couple of times it felt like he forgot what he was arguing for.”

One of the girls standing with Saiyed during the argument was junior Kennedy Hartman, who was backing Saiyed up as she made her claims.

“[An] old white man [standing with the person in the Spider-Man outfit] proceeded to say ‘You guys want to take my guns away,’” Hartman said. “I told him no one wants his guns and he proceeded to call me the B word.”

Saiyed recalls the argument drawing a crowd of people and several police officers to observe. She said it wasn’t until she noticed that one of the masked person’s friends was carrying a handgun that she decided it was time to go.

“Being P.O.C, staring at an actual handgun on the body of a man who was adamant that immigrants are the sole cause of mass shootings, which they are so not, made my heart stop,” Saiyed said. “I began picturing a million things that could go wrong with making this guy way too angry. I mean we are human beings, and time and time again we’ve seen that when people get really angry, and have a weapon on their body, things don’t always end super great.”

Passionate in what she believes in, Saiyed does not regret her action to walkout on that Friday and urges her peers to take action to express themselves. Concerned for the safety of her peers and herself, Saiyed will continue to support the motion for more gun control until she sees a change within her community.

“There has to be an understanding that when there is something vastly wrong with the way our society is functioning, there has to be action taken to advocate change,” Saiyed said. “That is literally the foundation of our country and something we Americans pride ourselves on: being able to stand up against the Man and pushing for what we believe in.”