What Emma González Said Without Words at the March for Our Lives Rally

Emma González spoke for just under two minutes Saturday before tens of thousands of demonstrators at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, describing the effects of gun violence in emotional detail and reciting the names of classmates who had been killed.

Then she said nothing for four minutes and 26 seconds.

González, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, has emerged as one of the most prominent faces among the student activists who have mobilized against gun violence after a shooting at their school last month that left 17 dead.

Their facility with social media has added urgency to demands for more gun control. González, who has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter, has spent much of the past month urging her audience to turn out for Saturday’s marches.

She stared straight ahead during her period of silence onstage, her sometimes watery eyes fixed in the distance. Then a timer went off.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds,” she said. “The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an hour before arrest.

“Fight for your lives, before it’s someone else’s job,” she continued, and then walked offstage.

González’s speech was a poignant moment during a day of demonstrations filled with emotional displays. At gatherings across the country, speakers — most of them students — denounced gun violence and committed to “stop at nothing” until their elected leaders took action to prevent it. Photos from the day’s events suggest that the calls for action against gun violence may be catching on in ways they had not after previous mass shootings.

Other demonstrators communicated their opposition to any further restrictions on guns with similar fervor, though in much smaller numbers, in scattered protests across the country.