On February 28th, students returned to school after the shooting that took 17 lives. But in the 16 days after Parkland, the students of Stoneman Douglas High School have made an incredible effort to ensure their voices are heard.
Many of these students have definitely made a name for themselves in the fight for gun control, even though they weren't expecting it. These students, and now activists, are Emma González, Cameron Kasky, and Jaclyn Corin. For those of you that weren't aware, Emma was the student who made an incredible speech in the wake of the shooting in her hometown, Cameron faced Senator Marco Rubio about his affiliation with the National Rifle Association and Jaclyn created the #WHATIF hashtag in hopes of getting Congress to take action. Afterward, these three activists, along with many others from around the country, have created and led the March For Our Lives movement that will be held on March 24th in Washington DC. This march hopes to force change on gun laws and ensure not another school shooting occurs.
Since watching the news and Twitter flood with the action of these young activists, it has forced me to not only become more aware of the current issues we face as a generation but to also get up and do something about it. Though these kids did not expect or ask for any of this after the tragedy, they were still brave enough to speak out about it. They are making sure we have a conversation about gun control. They are calling out adults in much higher positions of authority because this is something that has unfortunately affected their community and lives moving forward. The conversation they push for entails the lack of gun laws and what we can do going forward, but most importantly it entails the fact that our lawmakers have failed the younger generations in keeping them safe. This generation has to grow up facing adults because we are given no other option--but this doesn't have to be a bad thing. The younger generations before us have been a face for movements very much like gun control for decades. Teenagers and young adults protested the civil rights movement and most recently movements like the Women's March and the Black Lives Matter movement. If anything it is up to the young people to enact change.
Cameron, Emma, and Jaclyn appeared on Ellen to talk about this exact issue a week after the shooting. During the interview, Cameron Kasky had stated, "I wish that I had been able to be a part of this before I had to feel it at home. I almost feel guilty that it took feeling this anguish for us to get involved."
What happened to those in Parkland should never have happened, but it did, and now it is the prerogative of students and young adults to do something: to join these movements, to pressure Congress to do something, and to force our lawmakers to make our lives worth more than a deal with the NRA.
