Yesterday marked one month since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and students across the nation will not let it be forgotten. Beginning at 10 AM yesterday, students and advocates took 17 minutes out of their normal regimens to participate in the national school walk out. The event had a two-fold purpose: honoring those slain from the MSD High School shooting and calling for greater gun control.
Some participants “walked out” and held a moment of silence or silently held displays of the seventeen victims’ names and photos while others held marches and rallied in front of government facilities. In an unsurprising but frustrating move, some school districts enforced disciplinary actions for protest participants, but across the Atlantic, students received support from their peers in London.
Some of the protest signs read, “Enough is Enough”; “Fear should not be a part of my education”; and “When leaders act like kids & kids act like leaders–>CHANGE” (To me, this one took the cake). Apparently, the leaders of tomorrow have found the issue, and are fighting for their solution to be executed, and I couldn’t be more inspired.
During a recent chat with some colleagues, we all discussed if peaceful protest movements could be as effective as they have been in the past. Most recently we’ve seen the Women’s Marches and the Black Lives Matter Movement, but how impactful have they been, or will they be? Yesterday was not the first school walk out in our nation’s history. During the Civil Rights Movement, many brave teenagers walked out, sat in the front of the bus, and dared to take a seat at the lunch counter. It is due to their courage and persistence that we no longer have legal segregation in this country. What will be the success of this new movement of brave teenagers?
If this movement on gun control doesn’t change the law, it will be because of lawmakers who refuse to listen and make change, not due to any lack of effort or strategic action. I’ve just been reassured by these teenagers that our voices matter most when we act upon them. Activism is not dead, and if history proves right, change is coming.
