Tragedies such as what unfolded in Parkland, Florida seem to have become commonplace in American culture today. Every day it seems there is a shooting of some kind, and some claim that this normalization of gun violence is attributed to America’s unrelenting gun culture. But given the circumstances surrounding what happened in Parkland, it seems as if this normalization is finally going to end. And this is all thanks to a new wave of resistance by the kids of Stoneman Douglas High School. It is tantamount to understand the importance of these kids of the next generation finding their political voice.
And with that being said, I stress the importance of *these kids* and not anyone else.
The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High have tirelessly fought to not let their slain classmates die in vain, and they have shown this by keeping on pushing and pushing for effective gun control legislation. Whether this legislation be banning assault weapons like AR-15’s, stricter background checks, or closing the gun show loophole, these high schoolers have significantly pushed the gun control debate into the sphere of discourse.
More importantly, they have also exposed the Achilles’ heel of two entities that seem to be impervious to any scandal: the Trump administration and the National Rifle Association. Their fear and anger have ultimately catapulted them into the disturbing culture of guns in America as well as the polarizing political scene that dominates American culture today.
Furthermore, their resilience in the face of some of these politicians bought by the NRA is inspiring as well. In a Beowulf vs. Grendel moment on a CNN town hall, we have seen some of these kids vent their anger to people like Senator Marco Rubio and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch.
Right now, it seems that the Parkland kids seem to conclude the importance of voting in anti-gun candidates into office this coming midterm election, and that is great. But what raises some concern is that Democrats may adopt these kids’ message and alter it for their personal gain.
The Democrats have a long history of hijacking social movements and taking credit for their struggles. Take the LGBTQ movement. Democrats have taken pride in championing the fight for marriage equality, but it was Democrats that supported homophobic policies like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Furthermore, there has not been any sense of “resistance” against Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.
Or take the dialogue with the Black Lives Matter movement. While it’s great we see progressives like Bernie Sanders propelling police brutality into the Democratic platform, it should not be forgotten that Hillary Clinton coined the term “super-predators” to describe black youth, or that Barack Obama did very little to address the deaths of young black men throughout his presidency.
The point here being is that the Parkland kids should take control of their newly found political voice.
These kids are young and see the world in fundamentally different ways, and they shouldn’t submit themselves to a party that could potentially suck the energy right out of them. They have cultivated a movement that can extend the dialogue to other issues such as mass incarceration and how gun policies existing right now disproportionately affect black youth.
We should not disregard these teenagers as just a spontaneous moment in time. Instead, we should help them build their movement, and fight for a policy that does not discriminate and keep people safe at the same time.