The student survivors-turned-activists have proven their power in the weeks following the mass shooting that took 17 lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day. In the days following this tragic event, students mobilized to organize town halls, rallies, walkouts and marches demanding that their representatives in Congress enact some change to prevent this from ever happening again. Their demands have received national attention; student leaders (creators of the March For Our Lives and Never Again movements) have appeared on all the major media outlets and talk shows, receiving public support from politicians and celebrities. The eloquence and knowledge with which they speak and the way they have mobilized this movement for gun reform in America is very much a result of the type of education they’ve received at Stoneman Douglas, a relatively affluent community. An education that has focused on cultivating a passion for drama, journalism, speech and debate, and political activism and reaches beyond giving students standardized tests has created citizens that have already begun to do good in the world. Their education has prepared them for this very moment and that privilege is something they’ve acknowledged and used to give others a voice.
At an Axios event held the Friday before the march, MSD student David Hogg said that the media’s biggest mistake in covering the shooting was “not giving black students a voice.” Hogg and many of the other MSD students have been vocal about how the privileges of their education, race and wealth have given them the attention and praise other minority groups just don’t get when they speak out against gun violence in their communities. The Parkland students used that platform to uplift those voices so often ignored in the conversation for gun reform. While taking the stage at the March for Our lives rally in Washington, D.C. the students made sure to give victims of gun violence from other communities a chance to speak.
Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old student from Virginia, said in her speech that she was speaking on behalf of all of those “African-American girls whose stories don’t make the front page of every national newspaper.” Edna Chavez, a student from South Los Angeles, who lost her brother to gun violence, also gave a moving speech. She spoke about the normalcy of this issue in her neighborhood, “I’ve learned to duck from bullets before I learned how to read.” Many on twitter also spoke about the Parkland students passing the mic to people of color, “Parkland students using their privilege to make space and pass the mic to black and brown students who have been fighting this fight with no media attention and a country that didn’t listen is why this movement isn’t just a moment. #MarchForOurLives,” one Twitter user wrote. The fact that these students recognize their power to create change and that extending a hand to others affected by gun violence is a major step in eradicating it, shows that the future is indeed a bright one.
Cover Photo: http://today.com/