Last Wednesday our state and our community was devastated by another senseless act of violence when a gunman opened fire at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, killed 17 people; among them were educators and students. In the wake of this violence committed against them, the students of Stoneman Douglas are speaking out to demand gun reform and calling on our elected representatives to create legislation to end the cycle of mass shootings in the United States.
The students have been very outspoken about the anger they feel and the drive to create change. A rally at the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse held on Saturday drew thousands of people, all demanding our government to take some type of action toward reforming gun laws in the country. Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, addressed the President and our Florida representatives directly in a speech that has since gone viral; “If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done about it, I’m going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association.”
Students from Stoneman Douglas are also organizing to face state leaders and demand action. One hundred students, survivors of the shooting, will be heading to the Florida state capitol on Wednesday, where they will have small-group meetings with legislators to demand that they revise state laws on mental health and gun control. This will be their first organized protest of the #NeverAgain movement, created to address the demands of the survivors of this tragedy. Jaclyn Corin, the junior class president, conceived the idea for the trip to Tallahassee saying, “we are starting at the state level and hopefully we will be able to reach the national level.”
Cameron Kasky, a junior at Stoneman Douglas who created the #NeverAgain movement, also announced that on March 24 student organized rallies across the country will demand that lawmakers reject money from the NRA. “This isn’t about the GOP, this isn’t about the Democrats, this is about us creating a badge of shame for any politicians accepting money from the NRA and using us as collateral,” he said.
The March 24th march on Washington, called the “March for Our Lives,” will “demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.” Sister marches are already being organized in major cities across the country. Generation Z is demanding their voices be heard. Although many of these teens are not able to vote for the elected officials they have, they are fighting for their lives and in honor of all those they have lost. When they are so often ignored or told they are too young to understand, they are proving to the country their immense power to unite and create change.
Cover Photo: https://www.local10.com/news/parkland-school-shooting/stoneman-douglas-s…