The United States faced yet another mass shooting last week, this time 17 teenagers and teachers who were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14, 2018 by Nikolas Cruz, who had once attended the school but had been kicked out because of behavioral issues.
In a change from prior events, a group of students at the school decided they’d had enough with a response that seemed to begin and end with a few days of mourning mixed in with “thoughts and prayers” messages from politicians and religious leaders.
At a rally held at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale four days after the event, Stoneman Douglas senior Emma González created a national stir with a emotional speech calling out the Donald Trump and all politicians taking contributions from the NRA.
González has pledged that her school will be the last one to experience a mass shooting because she and her peers planned to take into their own hands changing gun laws. “This is our fight now, because you messed it up so badly that you left it to the kids. Now it’s our job, and you can’t try to take that back from us,” said González.
Following González’s speech, Stoneman Douglas student Cameron Kasky announced plans for a “March for Our Lives” anti-gun rally, stating, “On March 24th you’re going to be seeing students in every single major city marching, and we have our lives on the line here and at the end of the day that is going to be what’s bringing us to victory to make some sort of right out of this tragedy. This is about us begging for our lives This isn’t about the GOP, this isn’t about the Democrats. This about creating a badge of shame for any politicians accepting money from the NRA and using us as collateral.”
“The people in the government are lying to us..”
“You messed it up so badly…”
Student Emma Gonzalez’s message to Congress: “This is our fight now, because you messed it up so badly that you left it to the kids. Now it’s our job, and you can’t try to take that back from us.” pic.twitter.com/7PwYCpJUmH
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 18, 2018
“On March 24th you are going to see students in every major city…”
Cameron Kasky, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School: “My message for the people in office is: you’re either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around.” (via CNN) https://t.co/ShcPmXgXJR
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 18, 2018
March for our Lives rally
On March 24 we will take the streets of Washington DC and our communities across the country to #MarchForOurLives. Sign up at https://t.co/2m7ItdfFjV pic.twitter.com/yokyEdj7Jq
— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) February 18, 2018
