Jason Muhammad has buried 13 students in seven years.
Keshmario. Don. He remembers them all. The special-education teacher even chipped in for two of his students’ funerals because, he said, parents never think to save money to bury their children.
And on Saturday, Muhammad joined six of his students from National Collegiate Preparatory Public Charter High School in the District to rally for stricter gun laws, hoping to prevent another student from being killed.
“It’s the worst thing in the world,” said Muhammad, who taught in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region before moving to the District two years ago. “These kids spend the majority of their time with you.”
The focus at Saturday’s March for Our Lives was the thousands of students who streamed in to the nation’s capital to protest gun violence. The youth led the rally, but alongside them were teachers who said they witness each day how fear and violence puncture their students’ lives.