Students, parents and concerned community members gathered at City Hall today to honor those killed in the recent violence in the Mission and to demand steps to prevent future violence.

The peace rally, promoted by the June Jordan School for Equity, brought together a diverse group with concerns about violence in San Francisco’s neighborhoods.

The school took students on a field trip to the peace rally in response to the deaths of Josh Cameron, a JJSE senior killed Friday Aug. 5, and Jorge Hurtado, who graduated from JJSE last spring and was killed two days before he was scheduled to begin classes at SF State.

Fole Savea, a senior at JJSE, said she was happy with the turnout at the peace rally. “We think there are roughly 280 people here,” Savea said. “We need to show we care and do something to show how important our safety is.” Savea said she was friends with Cameron, and had talked to him soon before he was killed.

“He told me he knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life,” Savea said. “He wanted to become a firefighter,” Savea shook her head and covered her face. “Now?"

Parents stood back at the periphery of the event. Kiowa Smith said she was a parent so she felt she had to come.

“I’ve lost a lot of friends,” Smith said. “I am a parent and something needs to happen to make things safer,” Smith said.

The sentiments of students and parents reinforced the stated motivations of the San Francisco Unified School District.

“We expect the students to behave at the rally how anyone deals with loss,” said Gentle Blythe, communications director for the school district. “Some deal with a fist-shaking spirit and some with loss and tears,” said Blythe.

“Students organized the event,” Blythe said. “They were upset about the second killing of one of their peers.” Blythe said the students wanted to see a change in city policy, and hoped to emphasize the importance of official response to violence and murder that directly affected the schools.

“Students decided to tell elected officials to make this a priority,” Blythe said.

Mitzi Mock, with the Public Outreach and Communications department said the event was designed to express students’ feelings, not to incite hostility against the city’s government.

“This is a peace rally,” Mock said, “not a protest. The school district considers it a field trip for students to participate with government and express the importance of issues for schools.”