Youth organizers take over the streets of Chicago to demand for climate action

A protester joins the main group and readies for the march. He has a set of plastic rings around his neck that are typically found on soda can packages, his costume is nod to the dangers of pollution in oceans.

Naomi Avillas made the long trip from Naperville to Chicago. She sits with her sign waiting for the march to get underway.

Grace (Left), Madalyn (Middle) and Carmen (Right) are students At DePaul University. They made the journey from Lincoln Park because they believe fighting for the environment is too important to not attend.

A Catholic group moves with members of their congregation to reserve a spot near the front of the march.

Patrick McWillams passes out flyers about the Party of Socialism and Liberation to people arriving at the rally.

Organizers hold their signs up high and chant at the top of their lungs as they take their first steps.

An organizer hold a sign above her that reads "Pass CEJA Now." The sign is a message for Gov. Pritzker to sign the Clean Energy Jobs Act that would commit Illinois to rely on 100% renewable energy by 2050.

Organizers cross the Van Buren bridge and prepare to enter the downtown area.

A man leads the crowd down Van Buren St. chanting: "Hey, hey, ho, ho, climate change has got to go"

Organizers walking underneath the city's raised train tracks.

After marching for over a mile, the bulk of the organizers amassed at Federal Plaza. They crowded over a set of benches where youth leaders stood and read their speeches.

Samantha Arechiga thanked the crowd for coming out and dove into an emotional speech about the lack of climate action from congressional leaders.

	By Abel Rodriguez, Reporter, The Real Chi

On Friday Sep 20, 2019 thousands of students in the Chicagoland area ditched their classrooms and took to the streets to demand U.S. government to increase their efforts to combat climate change. 

“Our future is at stake, so what's the point of going to school if there is no future,” said Naomi Avillas, a student at Naperville Central High School, about missing school to attend the climate march.

Organizers rally on Columbus Dr. with their signs in hand and begin to chant.

Groups and organizations congregated on the Columbus and Roosevelt corner of Grant Park. They cheered the crowd marching and passed out signs to those who came bare handed to the rally. The groups of marchers at the staging area ranged from groups of friends that printed matching shirts to Catholic environmental groups and people calling for the dismemberment of the capitalistic economy in order to fix the climate. The one thing that all groups had in common was the mindset of a need for action to address climate change by world governments. 

“Capitalism is the primary driver of the climate change that we are experiencing,” said Patrick McWilliams, a member of the Party of Socialism and Liberation. “The IPCC report that came out advocated and said it was necessary to have huge systemic change in the way our economy and society is run and we believe the only way that can be accomplished - especially given the short time frame we have - is with a socialist system.”

“Our future is at stake, so what's the point of going to school if there is no future.”

After a delay ordered by the police, the march was allowed to advance a few minutes past 11:30. Originally, the protest was supposed to proceed along the sidewalks parallel with Columbus Dr. but after the mass arrival of protesters police decided to shut down Columbus Dr. for pedestrian use. According to one police officer there was 1500 people in the rally by the time the march was ready to head out.

Protesters were crammed close to each other as inched their way toward Federal Plaza to listen to the organizers make their big speeches. Collectively they chanted things like: “When our plant is under attack what do we do? STAND UP FIGHT BACK” and “Hey you we want a future too”

After turning onto Van Buren St, the marchers squeezed closer together to fit between the towering skyscrapers, their cheers and chants echoing off the sides of building and energizing the crowd to chant louder.

After having marched through streets for over an hour, protesters amassed at Federal Plaza. There they met and combined with the Amazon protest from earlier in the day, their protest sought to to pressure on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to confront the climate crisis Youth leaders took central stage and addressed audience. 

“Today we are making history,” said Samantha Arechiga. “It is weird that are leading this movement, although I wish we did not have to. I wish that our leaders our politicians prioritized our future over money, I wish they had already taken action to help this human caused climate change, I wish we did not have to strike, I wish we did not have to strike, I wish we could be learning in the classroom right now.”