In March, hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington D.C. and other cities to participate in March For Our Lives demonstrations and to say Never Again. But What comes after March For Our Lives? The teen activists and survivors of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School plan to spend their summer fighting for justice.
The March For Our Lives organization announced Monday Road to Change, a nationwide bus tour dedicated to registering young people to vote and promoting gun law reform.
On Monday, the MFOL account tweeted that “Schools out. But our work is just beginning.”
School’s out. But our work is just beginning. Tomorrow we’ll announce what’s next. #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/G5FDv9sXip
— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) June 3, 2018
According to Refinery 29, March For Our Lives: Road To Change will start June 15th at the Peace March in Chicago hosted by the students of St. Sabina Academy. The students will make more than 75 stops, in a 60-day, 20 states bus tour.
Then, there will be a separate 25 stop tour in Florida, where the activists will talk in every congressional district.
At the press conference the students held to announce the tour, Cameron Kasky,17, and leader of the Never Again movement said, “Four million people turn 18 this year and if every single one votes, encourages their friends to vote and their families, we can bring real change in this country.” he continued to say, “A lot of politicians do not want a lot of young people voting; they want marginalized communities staying out of the polls because they know they’ll be voted out. Our generation can change the game, we do not have to surrender to dirty, awful politics.”
It’s a daunting thing preparing to stare the country in the face and go to places you’ve never been with people who oppose you,
But I believe in this country and the people of this country and the principle that we can ALWAYS DO BETTER and move forward.#RoadToChange
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) June 4, 2018
The organizers of the tour aim to educate young voters on gun reform measures that could stop senseless deaths and to unseat local politicians who have affiliations with the NRA and support gun-rights, The Guardian reports.
The group has made it no secret that they are targeting November’s midterm elections, in the hopes of electing officials who will make serious gun reform laws.
Some of the reforms, as reported by Refinery, that the activists will push are universal and comprehensive background checks, searchable database for gun owners, funding for the Center for Disease Control to research gun violence and banning semi-automatic assault rifles.
Who’s ready for some damn change?
Fist raised, I will support the #RoadToChange . So no one else has to live through my community’s pain. ✊? Text CHANGE to 27779.
RT if you’re ready to join the fight. pic.twitter.com/YEabt9ddsD
— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) June 4, 2018
In addition to registering people to vote, the students will be holding town halls and rally’s, visiting gun clubs, speaking with NRA members, and talking with local politicians.
“We’re aiming for places that have experience a lot of gun violence, or some places where we aren’t necessarily loved. We want to communicate with people, if they have a problem with us we want to address that problem and have a communication and see if there’s any common ground,” said organizer Emma González.
March For Our Lives: Road To Change is here to tell the youth in our country that your vote does matter, especially in November midterm elections. By voting, you have the power to create some serious change within the US. As the party who controls Congress, basically decides the direction future policies will go in to.