Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Gun Violence Protest at U.S. Capitol Inspired By Holocaust Memorial

Thousands of shoes were placed on the lawn of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday morning as part of a protest against school shootings.

The display of worn shoes, which were intended to draw Congress’ attention to children who have died from gun violence, was inspired in part by memorials to the Holocaust, its organizer told the Forward.

“The inspiration of today’s protest is driven by this idea that kids should be around to outgrow their shoes,” the deputy director of the progressive activist organization Avaaz, Emma Ruby-Sachs, told the Forward. “When I think of the shoes memorial at Auschwitz, that’s the thought that strikes me. Right now, as I’m looking at these shoes covering the ground outside the Capitol, I’m having that same thought.”

Ruby-Sachs said that she was partly inspired by displays of victims’ shoes at Auschwitz and at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She added that her own Jewish faith is part of what powered her through spending the day standing outside in the cold. “There are people missing from our history that shouldn’t be missing. This is part of the Jewish story, for sure.”

Families of gun victims traveled to Washington to participate.

“I’ll travel to D.C. literally wearing my son Daniel’s shoes, the ones he wore the day he died at Columbine,” Tom Mauser told Newsweek. “I think this kind of event with shoes offers a very powerful metaphor both for how we miss the victims who once filled those shoes, and also for how we see ourselves wanting to walk in their place, seeking change, so that others don’t have to walk this painful journey.”

Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.