In the wake of the mass killing in Newtown, CT on December 14, community members, activists, clergy and other concerned citizens joined numerous elected officials for a December 23 candlelight vigil and march over New York City’s Brooklyn Bridge to call for stricter gun controls and increased resources for mental health services and community youth programs.

“As an elected official, I’ve attended too many funerals of children who have died of gun violence,” said NYC Council Member Letitia James. “I’ve attended the funerals of children whose mothers are 1199 home health aides. We’ve had 249 homicides in Brownsville this year alone. What happens on the streets of Brooklyn and in Newtown affects us all and protesting is the most powerful weapon we have.”

The event was endorsed by a number of unions including 1199SEIU, SEIU Local 32BJ, and the Transit Workers Union. New York State Senator Eric Adams and NYC Council members Letitia James and Jumaane Williams were among the elected officials who led two groups of marchers that gathered on each end of the bridge at just about sundown and walked to meet each other in the middle. Upon arriving at the bridge’s midpoint, the names of all the Sandy Hook victims were read aloud. Williams and Adams called upon the current administration to make real change and to stand up to the fear mongering and racism of the National Rifle Association.

In a poignant reminder of Sandy Hook, many families marched; parents carried toddlers or walked holding candles as well as the hands of their very young children, who were bundled up against stiffening winds and dropping temperatures.

One marcher, Vicki Quiroz, is a former patient service representative at Manhattan’s St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital who left the institution to care for her kids full-time. “It’s going to happen again if we don’t unite and join together to stand up and stop it,” she said.

“I wish more people were out here. We need our communities involved. I don’t believe in guns. And mental illness is a real issue that we need to address. We can’t just give our young people medication or throw them out on the streets.”