Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarayu Bellary & Katie Chou.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Sarayu and I (Katie) were first chosen to be chapter leaders of the Dallas branch of March for Our Lives back in August. Both of our passions for gun violence prevention were amplified after the Uvalde Shooting in our very own state. It prompted the question: if we can’t even feel safe at school then what place is even left? The fact that so many kids of all ages have lost their lives to assault weapons kick-started our passion and encouraged us to join March. MFOL is a nonprofit that engages in political action and advocacy efforts to spur on stricter gun control legislation in hopes of curbing mass shooting numbers. After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting (the shooting that inspired students at that school in Parkland, FL to start MFOL) on February 14, 2018, MFOL organized the largest single day of protest against gun violence in history. The mission of this org is to harness the power of young people across the country to fight for sensible gun violence prevention policies that save lives! We also participate in and plan a wide variety of protests given the intersectionality of gun violence and so many other issues. Being chosen to run this org was a huge honor for both of us, as we were being handed so much responsibility and power we didn’t have before to combat gun violence; this leadership role also meant access to many more resources to aid us in our mission.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Sarayu: The main challenge has been figuring out what we, as 16-year-olds who live in Texas (a state with very loose gun laws), can do to encourage gun violence prevention and what actions that we can take are within our reach. As people may not know, March for Our Lives is actually a non-partisan organization, meaning we can’t side with specific parties like the GOP or Democrats; this has limited some of the actions we initially believed we had the power to undertake. However, we quickly realized we could still carry out things like encouraging voter registration for the midterms, calling out and condemning specific party members, and lobbying our state representatives. On the more logistical side, the main struggle has been the impact of covid and how it’s manifested in so many different ways. March For our Lives has mainly been virtual the past 2 years, like so many other non-profits, and the transition back to in-person has made recruitment a more difficult process, as figuring out if virtual, hybrid, or completely in-person is the way to go for each event; however, we’ve just taken it day by day. Plus it is also our first year as Dallas chapter leaders, having been passed on this leadership role when our ex-chapter leaders went to college. With me (Sarayu) being part of the speech and debate team at West and Katie being a writer for the school newspaper, finding the balance between managing this chapter leader role, school, extracurriculars, and just junior year, in general, was a bit of a struggle for both of us at the beginning of the year; however, we’ve both learned to lean on each other and relegate tasks between the two of us efficiently in order to help this org run smoothly and curb gun violence in an adequate way, while simultaneously avoiding burnout.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The biggest things we do are organize big marches/ protests to call to action, lobby state reps who might’ve just passed an extreme or treacherous law that’ll only spike gun violence rates, hold town halls with members of Congress, offer support to families and victims of mass shootings, and just educate the general public about the dangers of gun violence and how they can help by joining March! I think this organization as a whole is most proud of our recent march that we helped organize. On June 11, 2022, chapters all across the country held marches in the wake of the devastating yet eye-awakening Uvalde school shooting and a string of other mass shootings and instances of gun violence in our communities. MFOL Texas participated in this chain of protests across the country, with MFOL Dallas playing a big part in the planning, organization, and execution of this event.
What sets us apart from others is probably the unique methods we use to advocate gun violence prevention. Many people don’t realize how things like voter registration and holding food drives can help, but these are some of our most effective methods in today’s day. It is proven that by holding food drives for those of marginalized and low-income communities, this can help reduce mental health problems and cases of violent tendencies. Voter registration in general just seeks to encourage everyone to exercise their civic duty; we tie gvp into this by educating people which incumbents and people running for office have legislation which helps our cause and thus this gives them another reason to vote. By voting, you can take a step in controlling your fate and avoid allowing bigotry and corruption to have a place in politics.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Katie: With more and more young people taking an active interest in public policy, we hope there is an influx of like-minded people like us who will take an interest in figuring out ways to pass comprehensive legislation that effectively prevents gun violence. It’s horrific to think about, but the numbers of mass shootings are only getting higher and the stats only getting worse. We hope this inspires people to want to make a change in their community and put pressure on our representatives. As our organization proclaims, tragedy will not stop until we push forward big policy changes now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/mfoldallas
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mfoldtx/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/mfoldtx
Image Credits
Sarayu Bellary
Madeline Schlegel
