4.

SING OUT

LISTEN: THE SCHOOLKIDS ARE SHOUTING AS THEY MARCH UP Thirteenth Street. A bullhorn calls out, “We are the future!” The children answer, “Give us a chance!” As passing cars honk, the children flinch, then cheer. Up Washington Street, students from the university march behind the blats of a brass band. When the schoolkids and the college kids meet at the intersection, everybody hurrahs and the groups merge—part of 6 million people worldwide. “You have stolen my dreams,” some of the little ones shout. But then who can hear the words over the singing crowd and tuba? Marchers pump their signs up and down. Grownups on bikes wobble as they match the pace of the parade and, from the windows of a parking garage, a hundred office workers cheer. Police sirens whoop. At the courthouse steps, the crowd quiets to listen as a microphone squeals and a teenager begins to shout, “We will keep fighting until the fossil fuel companies are held responsible for their crimes.” In small, fluting voices, the children call out, “How dare you? How dare you?”