Via NBC News:
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of students gathered in the nation's capitol and at sister marches across the country and around the world to deliver a powerful, unified message: Enough is enough...
...Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School organized and hosted the main event on the mall in Washington with the U.S. Capitol in the background, a stark reminder of why they were demanding change.
"We hereby promise to fix the broken system we've been forced into and create a better world for the generations to come," Cameron Kasky, one of the student organizers told a cheering crowd filled with teenagers. "Don't worry, we've got this..."
The most powerful moment came when Emma Gonzalez, one of the more prominent Parkland students in the movement, gave her speech:
After listing the names of the 17 people killed when a gunman rampaged through her school on Valentine's Day, Gonzalez asked the crowd to fathom how so many could be murdered in only 6 minutes and 20 seconds.
And then she stopped speaking.
Silent minutes ticked by. Then an alarm beeped.
"Since the time that I came out here, it has been 6 minutes and 20 seconds," she said finally. "The shooter has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest."
She added: "Fight for your lives before it's someone else's job."
I just wanna live long enough to vote for her as President, okay God?
That was all in Washington DC. Here at home, there were shared rallies same as across the nation. In Tampa, they figured they had around 15,000 showing up to call for action on gun safety.
Closer to home, I went to the rally happening in Lakeland, and I got some pics:
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| Munn Park in downtown Lakeland |
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| The early minutes before the rally began |
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| This was a rally organized by the teens but for all ages to attend! |
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| Voter Registration by the League of Women Voters |
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| The speakers deliver their calls to action, and in poetry |
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| Sharing out the signs |
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| I figured around 100 people showed up |
The kids want stronger gun safety laws.
They're angry at politicians who are in the NRA's pocket who won't do anything about it.
They're registering to vote.
And they are going to vote on this single issue: Guns.
They will vote you out, pols, if you are taking even a penny from the gun-makers and their lobby of doom.
And if you don't think they can't do that, do a head count.
The Millennial generation just got to where they outnumber the Boomers.
Turnout matters, granted, but these kids are on a mission. They're sick of school lockdowns and dreading the day it'll be their turn they won't come home after another mass shooting.
These teens are going to keep working on this issue. They're gonna vote this November.
Gods. This feels good.
Update: As Larry mentions in the comments, there were organized buses of students going to the Orlando protest and not the Tampa one. Orlando had 20,000 show up (!)
3 comments:
"Don't worry, we've got this..."
That was part of the brilliance of Emma's speech. You didn't know what she was up to while she was standing there in silence, obviously trying to keep it together in front of so many people, then BOOM she just lays it out there, and indeed, she had it the whole time.
I took it as a lesson in trusting the kids who actually have a stake in this to do the right thing, and remembering that it was only my generation that dropped the ball on this issue.
And speaking as someone who has actually been shot at, I always find it interesting when those who never have and never will get shot at try to give advice to those who have and likely will again.
And this may be a slightly cynical take, but this is perhaps the only thing that could mobilize the youth vote, which is perhaps the only consequential voting bloc untapped and heretofore non participatory.
-Doug in Oakland
The Lakeland rally would have been much larger but for the fact that by the time it was organized there were several buses already organized to take people to the Orlando march.
Be the change - Larry in Lakeland
Thank you for the information, Larry. I'm glad Polk students were able to show their support somewhere even if it was in Orlando. There was still a decent turnout here.
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