As someone who has, along with many others, called BS all along on all this BS, I absolutely applaud, cheer and wholeheartedly support the surviving students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and their parents, teachers, coaches and community members.
Their clearly impassioned voices, resolve and determination to face down the NRA and all the politicians in the NRA’s pocket is beyond inspirational. It is an attitude that is proving to be highly contagious. It is spreading as a rampant virus as conditions are ripe for change.
YES. Let’s join them and work to truly make this THE last mass shooting in America. Let’s help these students change our gun laws once and for ALL.
Deep down we all recognize that they are right, deep down we all know this know this is one of our most precious self evident truths: no student, no child should have to fear for their lives while pursuing their right to an education. No teacher, coach or other school official should have to fear for their life while doing their job.
Further, no-one anywhere should fear for their lives at any time when they go to a school, a mall, a movie, a restaurant, a hospital, a nightclub, or to work.
That right to live without fear is set out as a premise for the establishment of the Constitution in its own Preamble:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Indeed, we have ALL had it with living in fear, and long for true domestic Tranquility. Yet I believe that we as adults have fallen short of all that can be done. We continue to try to effect change through speaking out, calling our MoCs, writing letters, sending postcards, getting the vote out, voting Democrats into office at every level at every election, staging sit-ins and marching, but we see that the country yet teeters along with the world on the brink of disaster, and we fear for our Republic.
We see that 17 more people, many of whom were not of voting age at the time of their death, have died as a result of inaction on the part of adults responsible for upholding the Constitution and securing domestic Tranquility.
We have fallen short out of fear as we come to believe that, if we take to the streets to exercise our right to assemble peacefully and stand massively as one people against ALL that is so wrong right now — the blatant corruption of our elected officials by the dark money of special interests aligned with evangelicals and Russians, the terrifying slide towards tyranny and authoritarianism, the violation of our basic human rights such as health care and disability benefits, the transfer of wealth to already filthy rich corporations and individuals, the discrimination against ALL minorities, the lack of action to defend us from foreign invasion, election interference and “meddling”, the dismantling of our institutions, the removal of regulations designed to protect us and the environment, the sale of our national parks, the drilling for oil we don’t need or want, the outrageous injustice of it ALL — if we do that, take to the streets and remain there until our demands for resignations and sweeping reform are met, we have been told a crushing bloodbath will ensue, civil war will break out, martial law will be enacted and/or WWIII will break out.
Now, these dear souls have been moved to act, they have been activated. They have set out on a path to fight to change the nation’s gun laws and in so doing, honor the lives of their friends and classmates who were murdered indiscriminately, gunned down with an AR 15 by one of their own classmates who turned out to be the cold blooded killer that they all suspected he was.
Their response to this life-changing event is the blueprint that we must build upon to retake our country. This is what it is going to take to change laws, to save democracy, to elect officials dedicated to public service and not dark money, and rebuild our republic.
So far the students have seen lots of appreciation, encouragement and support, moral as well as monetary, with the Clooneys donating $500,000, and Oprah and Steven Spielberg matching that amount. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Amy Schumer and Cher have all pledged support. A GoFundMe account has been set up for those who are able and would like to support MSD Never Again as well: www.gofundme.com/...
They have also been attacked, accused, dismissed and chided.
It has even been pointed out that they are being supported solely because they are white, even though many of the students surviving the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS are not white. It is being said that if this happened at an inner city black school or if the shooter was a black or brown male, there would be an entirely different reaction. That may very well be true.
Be that as it may, we ALL simply must come to grips with the fact that the long standing divisions that exist in our nation have been identified and are being intentionally widened; wedges of hate are being hammered in place to keep us apart. We are being manipulated.
Only when we ALL together see this and unite to fight will we ALL prevail against the forces that seek to divide, conquer and control us ALL. Many people are not racist, period.
Emma Gonzalez, Alex Wind, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, Jaclyn Corin, Sarah Chadwick, Sofie Whitney, and Delaney Tarr understand this. They have formed MSD Never Again #NeverAgain and have called for the March for Our Lives on DC to take place March 24, 2018. An excerpt from an article by Emily Witt writing for the New Yorker reads:
By Sunday, only four days after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, the activist movement that emerged in its aftermath had a name (Never Again), a policy goal (stricter background checks for gun buyers), and a plan for a nationwide protest (a March for Our Lives, scheduled for March 24th). It also had a panel of luminary teens who were reminding America that the shooting was not a freak accident or a natural disaster but the result of actual human decisions.
Other events are being organized, as of this writing the March for Our Lives FB events page lists more than 50 Sister Marches nationwide and one in London. Across the country organized protests are taking place as detailed in this article from Collin Binkley/AP in Time, with students, parents, teachers and community supporters joining in. In Texas, students have been warned that if they leave school to protest they will face 3 days suspension. Now, civil disobedience is a form of peaceful strategic mass protest, and is a protected right of all citizens. In Tinker vs Des Moines the right of students to protest was defined by the United States Supreme Court as protected, as long as it did not interfere with or disrupt class. Leaving class may be construed as disruptive. Many school districts have however, chosen instead to support the protests, all are in agreement that school massacres, mass shootings everywhere need to stop.
So far the MSD Never Again organizers have taken it all in stride, to their credit. They are earning respect and surely deserve appreciation for being able to motivate others to ACT.
Most importantly, they get that ultimately, real change will take showing up in large numbers to vote, as evidenced point blank in Emma Gonzalez’ closing statement at the rally where she so eloquently spoke:
If you agree, register to vote. Contact your local congress people. Give them a piece of your mind.
We are all fed up with the inaction, the lack of real change, lack of true representation due to the incredible corruption our elected officials.
This is how we take our country back, by getting out of the way of those who can clearly see the path ahead, recognize that it is fraught with danger and uncertainty, but after consulting the inner compass of their heart, still forge ahead, and call upon others to follow.
The least we can do is have their backs.