Team 26 Pedals With Mettle To Washington, DC
Team 26 delivered its message to Washington, DC, on May 8. After holding a press conference and launch rally at Edmond Town Hall on May 5, the group biked roughly 400 miles to urge Congress for a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines; not taking measures to arm teachers; and strengthening background checks on all gun sales.Speaking OutRiding The PeaksAnd ValleysFor more information about Team 26 visit the team website team26.org, Facebook page facebook.com/sandyhookrideonwashington, or Twitter account @rideonteam26.
This is the sixth time Team 26 has made the journey in honor of the 20 first graders and six educators killed on 12/14.
Team 26 is also referred to as "America's Bike Messengers." Team leader and Sandy Hook resident Monte Frank made the message clear at the launch rally: It is time for Congress to act and vote. Between the launch rally and the time Team 26 arrived in Washington, DC, Mr Frank said roughly 360 people were projected to have died from gun violence.
"I am so proud to lead the men, women, and students of Team 26," Mr Frank said, standing on the steps of Edmond Town Hall. He was flanked by members of the team and supporters. "These bike messengers are about to embark on a 400-mile rolling rally to shine a light."
During its trip, Team 26 would stop in small towns and big cities, and members would attend events and rallies before arriving in Washington, DC.
"We're there to deliver the message from this community and from communities all over the nation that enough is enough," said Mr Frank.
Sharing words from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr's last speech in Memphis, Tenn., he said, "Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars."
"Well, folks: It's dark," Mr Frank continued. He added later, "[There are] mass shootings in schools, churches, movie theaters, and the slow massacres in our cities - Chicago, Baltimore, Hartford - and yet Congress remains broken, mired in partisan politics. Gridlock, preventing gun bills that will save lives from moving forward. Yes, people: It is dark."
Yet, thanks to sustained efforts from those like Team 26, Sandy Hook Promise, and others, Mr Frank said, "We can see the stars."
"I see stars because we are fighting back," Mr Frank explained. "We are saying no to concealed carry reciprocity; we are saying no to arming teachers. Teachers should teach, not carry fire arms. I say no to bump stocks. I say no to ghost guns... I say no to AR-15 [rifles] and high capacity magazines."
Mr Frank said his team members would deliver a petition signed by over 250,000 Americans to ban AR-15s and high capacity magazines.
Others also spoke at the rally, including Newtown First Selectman Dan Rosenthal, St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church's Monsignor Robert Weiss, US Senator Richard Blumenthal, Team 26 member Wyatt Cote, Junior Newtown Action Alliance (Jr NAA) members, Moms Demand Action volunteer Laura Feinstein, Jeremy Stein of Connecticut Against Gun Violence, gun violence survivor Carolyn Tuft of Utah, Pastor of the Gardener Memorial AME Zion Church of Springfield, Mass., Sam Saylor, and a March for Our Lives organizer Tyler Suarez, who is also a nephew of Dawn Hochsprung, the late principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School.
"I am so proud to be here today with people that know conscience and conviction," said Sen Blumenthal, who Mr Frank said has never missed a Team 26 send-off or welcome event.
Later, Tyler performed a song he wrote with his grandfather in honor of his aunt, Ms Hochsprung.
"There's something about music that doesn't really get conveyed in words, just like... there is something about the ride that you can't explain in words," said Tyler. "This is my attempt to explain everything."
As he sang the song, called "Little Princess," the gathered crowd was silent.
"I want to tell you a story, about a woman that is filled with glory," he sang. "She helped so many, because she cared. Love and bravery beyond compare."
Later, when Ms Feinstein spoke, she shared her message both as a representative of Moms Demand Action and as a Sandy Hook Elementary School educator who survived the events of 12/14.
"I thought this," she said, speaking about the shooting on 12/14, "would be the tipping point, but [I] learned there is so much work to be done. There is an epidemic of gun violence in this country."
No one should have to endure the terror of gun violence, Ms Feinstein said.
Ms Tuft later shared her story of survival. She explained everything that she "recognized as her life" was gone in a millisecond when she and her daughter were shot while shopping. Her daughter died. The heartbreak, she said, is endless. "The legacy of gun violence," she shared, also took her livelihood with mounting hospital bills, chronic pain, and inability to work.
"Gun violence takes your loved ones from you, but if you survive, as I did, it takes your health. It can leave you impoverished. That, my friends, is everyone's problem," said Ms Tuft.
Rev Saylor, who lives in Hartford, lost his son Shane to gun violence just months before the Sandy Hook School shooting, according to Mr Frank. The pair met at a march in Hartford.
Rev Saylor said the members of Team 26 made a choice to sacrifice their time and bodies to make the statement that "we matter." A number of the event's speakers, he pointed out, said "enough is enough."
"As you contemplate the horrific event that happened in this town and that happens in every town in American and happens on every corner every day in urban America... I want you to think of something," said Rev Saylor. He added later, "Your enoughness is good enough. It is good enough to change the direction of this country away from gun violence, toward a more sane and reasonable opportunity to live."
Following the arrival in Washington, DC, Mr Frank said the ride had "many peaks and valleys."
"Unlike every past ride, we had beautiful weather for most of our journey," Mr Frank reflected in an e-mail on May 9. "We could also feel the energy at our events as people came out to see us, people who are sick of the violence and fighting for change. The team was humming along on the road, everyone working together as one unit. Yet, we also had some real lows, especially when we were in Baltimore. The mayor and police commissioner took us to a vigil for a high school student, a good kid and football and lacrosse star, gunned down for no reason on the same day we left Newtown. The community appreciated the Newtown riders being there just to stand with them and let them know that they are not alone. I promised the family that Congress would know his name and who he was.
"The next day, we all wore #10 on our jerseys and dedicated the ride into Washington to him," Mr Frank continued. "I spoke about him during our press conference. We all committed to moving forward and working every day to end gun violence in both suburban America and urban America. I am incredibly proud of each and every member of the Team 26 family."