Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, have been awarded the 2018 International Children's Peace Prize for their tireless anti-gun activism in the aftermath of the Valentine’s Day mass shooting that changed their lives.
March For Our Lives leaders David Hogg, Emma González, Jaclyn Corin and Matt Deitsch received the award during a ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa. Anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu, the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, presented the group with the award and said he considered the movement to be one of the most significant instances of youth-led activism in recent memory.
Describing their work as a “peaceful campaign to demand safe schools and communities and the eradication of gun violence,” Archbishop Tutu said that the students’ work is reminiscent of other historically great peace movements.
“I am in awe of these children, whose powerful message is amplified by their youthful energy and an unshakable belief that children can — no, must — improve their own futures. They are the true changemakers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world.”
Tutu is right: The Parkland students have moved the world, while always keeping young people at the center of their work. It’s not just the March for Our Lives, which had students and their adult allies taking to the streets in protest of gun violence and lax gun laws. The Parkland students raised millions for their work. They became heroes to the nation, in a unique sweet spot where they are not just revered—they also inspire protective instincts in those who admire them.
When people trash-talk these activists, they pay the price, whether it’s Fox News maniac Laura Ingraham bleeding advertisers or an unopposed politician being driven out of his own race. The students demanded elected officials hold town halls. They launched a campaign devoted to telling the untold stories of gun violence.
They got the NRA screaming loud and spending tons of money, and even pushed new NRA president Oliver North to call them “terrorists.” They waged a civil-protest war on companies that donate to the NRA. They spread a message of love at this year’s Tony Awards. They compelled states to change their gun laws, marking the “best year” in recent memory for gun control lobbying. The NRA blamed the Parkland students’ activism for its financial woes, while Barack Obama celebrated them. They wrote a song to honor their fallen classmates and urged young people not just to register to vote, but to actually cast a ballot.
And they did it all while recovering from the trauma of enduring a massacre in their house of learning, and continuing their education, playing sports, making music, and applying to colleges.
Upon receipt of the award, Emma González summarized the prize’s significance, and why their work will continue to succeed.
González [...] said the peace prize “serves as a major reminder that the universe is on the side of justice and that we will win because our cause is one of peace.”
The founder of the organization awarding the prize echoed González’s reasoning.
The prize was founded by KidsRights, an organization that works to guarantee the rights of children. Tutu has been the patron for more than a decade.
Marc Dullaert, founder of KidsRights and the peace prize, said in a statement that March for Our Lives topped the list of this year’s nominees because it is a “truly global youth-led and peaceful protest movement.”
“The initiators have utilized the skills and knowledge of young people to generate positive change, whilst mobilizing millions of their peers. … This will shape the way in which children’s rights are campaigned in the future,” Dullaert added.
Let’s hope he’s right.