WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION! Saturday’s MARCH FOR OUR LIVES in nearly every major US city and several locations around the world delivered a very powerful message: today’s youth are social activists, are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the issues, and are locked and loaded and ready to fight to the death for what they believe in.
Top News Today
From Dallas to Denver, San Antonio to San Francisco, New York to New Orleans, and directly down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, DC, more than a million of America’s youth and their parents participated in the very special MARCH FOR OUR LIVES event. Even citizens in Austria, Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom took to the streets of their respective countries in support of the American movement. Collectively, the message was clear: if the adults in power refuse to protect kids, then the kids have no choice but to step up and protect themselves and DEMAND gun reform in the US in order to save their own lives.
The moment was simply unprecedented. By their participation in the MARCH FOR OUR LIVES, the youth of America exclaimed that they’re TIRED of going to school without knowing if they will live to see the end of the school day. They’re TIRED of seeing the kindergarteners of Sandy Hook or the students of Parkland killed by military-grade assault rifles and buried before their lives have even begun. They’re TIRED of Republican politicians being puppets of the NRA and doing nothing to stop the slaughter of young, innocent lives. They’re TIRED of everyone offering their “thoughts and prayers” without offering any real solutions or changes to existing gun laws in order to stop the violence and save lives!
In DC, 9-year-old Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., told the crowd that she dreams of “a gun-free world, period.”
In Parkland, Samantha Fuentes, who took a bullet to the thigh and whose face was ripped by shrapnel during the shooting, was so overcome with emotion during her impassioned speech, that she had to pause to vomit.
“I just threw up on international television, and it feels great!” Fuentes said after puking her feelings out.
Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silently at the microphone with tears streaming down her face for 6 minutes — the exact amount of time it took the Parkland shooter to kill more than a dozen of her classmates during the deadly massacre.
From march to march and state to state, the message from the youth to US politicians was crystal clear: change the gun laws NOW, or else you will be voted out of office and replaced with legislators who will!
“If they continue to ignore us … we will take action every day in every way until they simply cannot ignore us anymore,” Parkland student Delaney Tarr says at #MarchForOurLives. pic.twitter.com/HPZr9FHFVg
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 24, 2018
That message resonated powerfully with Republican donor Al Hoffman Jr., who announced the launch of an advocacy organization that will force Congress to pass comprehensive gun control.
“Americans for Gun Safety Now! is honored to stand in solidarity with the thousands of students, including survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, to rally for change in our nation’s capital,” Hoffman said in a statement.
Hoffman, who is the former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, added that he intends to withhold donor money from politicians who refuse to support an assault weapons ban.
Top News Today
After remaining eerily silent for most of Saturday, the National Rifle Association finally emerged from underneath a rock to proclaim that the MARCH FOR OUR LIVES was orchestrated by billionaires and Hollywood and merely used kids to push an anti-gun agenda.
“Stand and Fight for our Kids’ Safety by Joining NRA,” the group said Saturday on Facebook. “Today’s protests aren’t spontaneous. Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to DESTROY the Second Amendment and strip us of our right to defend ourselves and our loved ones.”
Additionally, conspiracy theorists on NRA TV referred to the MARCH FOR OUR LIVES as “A march for their lies.” They also pressed the (old and predictable) narrative that because the Parkland students are so well-spoken and articulate that they must be paid crisis actors.
“Anyone who saw me in my school’s production of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ knows that nobody would pay me to act for anything,” Parkland student Cameron Kasky said in response.
The MARCH FOR OUR LIVES movement has begun. Unlike the generation before them, today’s youth are eager and active participants in the political process. They care about the issues. They care about their lives. They refuse to take NO for an answer.
Could this be the generation that finally makes a difference?
.
.
.
Saturday’s MARCH FOR OUR LIVES in nearly every major US city and several locations around the world delivered a very powerful message: today’s youth are social activists, are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the issues, and are locked and loaded and ready to fight to the death for what they believe in. […] -DJ
Great post DJ, from start to finish, you hit it OUT the park!
Frankly, after what WE (the entire world) just witnessed this past weekend I’d say THIS is what a True “PRO-Life” movement looks like. These kids are fighting not just for their own lives but for the lives of ALL of us…Every living American.
And you’ve put it quite right: “They refuse to take NO for an answer.”
Their message, their commitment, their fight…it’s all REAL. You can see it. You can hear it. You can feel it deep down inside.
You asked “Could this be the generation that finally makes a difference?”
Yes.
And on a somewhat related note………
“Gun maker Remington, America’s oldest, files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection”
America’s oldest gun manufacturer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to court papers filed in Delaware federal court late Sunday. The move by Remington Arms Co. and its parent, Remington Outdoors, comes amid slumping sales at the firm founded more than 200 years ago.
It also follows STUDENT-LED rallies across the United States calling for stricter gun laws after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in February. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in “March for our lives” events on Saturday. An estimated 800,000 protesters took part in Washington, D.C.
Remington, based in North Carolina, has been making various handguns, rifles and shotguns since 1816.
Stephen Jackson, Remington’s chief financial officer, said in the filing that the company has seen a significant decline in revenue and sales over the last 12 months. […] -USA Today
H/T: MSNBC
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich rips Trump after ‘March for Our Lives’
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ripped President Trump on Sunday for his absence at the nationwide March for Our Lives demonstrations over the weekend.
“If you just sit for a moment and imagine those bullets going through those bodies, and what those bodies might have looked like afterwards, how can the president of the country talk about all the things he’s going to do, and then go have lunch with the NRA and change it?” Popovich said in a statement obtained by CBS Sports.
“It’s just cowardice. A real leader would have been in Washington D.C. this weekend, not at his penthouse at Mar-a-Lago. He would have had the decency to meet with a group, to see what’s going on, and how important it is, and how important our children should be to us. So for all those politicians involved, it’s just a dereliction of duty,” he continued. […] – MSN
Here here. I agree with Truth that you hit it out the park again today with this article DJ. For the first time ever I am starting to believe this generation could really succeed where the others couldn’t. What made me feel this is when they kept saying change the laws or else we will vote you out and get somebody else in there to change it. It is the power of the vote that makes a difference this time around. Before a lot of people were willing to march but they lost interest quickly and never registered to vote. But this time I heard they had voter registration at every march and these young people were signing up like free candy. You are right they are passionate and they mean business. As for the NRA they are some predictable nut jobs who see they are about to lose on this issue. For them to say these kids are paid actors is plain stupid. LOL and I like the one guy who said if anybody saw him act they wouldn’t think he is getting paid to do it. I love what is happening here and I back these kids 100 percent. Keep going because a whole lot of us adults are behind you.
How the Parkland students pulled off a massive national protest in only 5 weeks
(CNN)Just five weeks ago, a gunman killed 17 of their friends and teachers at school and changed the course of their lives. This weekend, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School led a historic march for gun control, what they called a March for Our Lives.
Here’s how the Parkland, Florida, students went from experiencing a mass tragedy to launching a mass movement.
They took immediate action
Within days of the February 14 shooting, the students made clear that thoughts and prayers were not enough for them — they wanted concrete legislative solutions to the epidemic of mass shootings and an end to the influence of the National Rifle Association.
At a rally in Fort Lauderdale, senior Emma González called BS on politicians who said no law could have prevented the massacre.
“Maybe the adults have gotten used to saying ‘it is what it is,’ but if us students have learned anything, it’s that if you don’t study, you will fail,” González said. “And in this case if you actively do nothing, people continually end up dead, so it’s time to start doing something.”
Her classmates insisted that the time for action was now, and that could help them heal. They adopted the rallying cry #NeverAgain, and a nascent movement formed.
They engaged with the media
National news outlets descended on Parkland to cover the shooting. They found survivors willing to relive the most terrifying moments of their lives and connect them to policies on gun violence.
Seniors David Hogg, an aspiring broadcast journalist, and González, president of her school’s Gay-Straight Alliance, remained poised and eloquent as they fielded reporters’ questions.
Junior Cameron Kasky laid out the stakes in a CNN opinion article: “We can’t ignore the issues of gun control that this tragedy raises. And so, I’m asking — no, demanding — we take action now.”
They announced plans to march
By February 18, the students put everyone on notice: They planned to march for their lives in Washington on March 24.
From the start, they pledged to center students’ voices as gun violence survivors and future voters and invited teens across the country to join them.
“One of the things we’ve been hearing is that it’s not the time yet to talk about gun control,” Kasky said. “So here’s the time that we’re going to talk about gun control: March 24.”
The rally was intended to give students everywhere a chance to “beg for their lives,” he said.
The march had three primary demands:
– Pass a law to ban the assault weapons;
– Stop the sale of high-capacity magazines;
– Implement laws that require background checks on all gun purchases, including online and at gun shows.
They raised funds
A GoFundMe campaign to support the rally raised more than $1.7 million in three days on top of $2 million in private donations from Hollywood personalities including George and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
The funds would make the March 24 rally possible, paying for supplies, equipment and coordination of the massive event. As of Sunday, more than 42,000 people had donated nearly $3.5 million to the online fundraiser.
They built excitement through small victories
While some shooting victims were still hospitalized and funerals were beginning, students boarded a bus to the state capitol for a lobbying day.
The experience galvanized them in different directions, and many continued to fight along with Stoneman Douglas parents at the state level for stricter gun laws. They didn’t get the assault weapons ban they wanted. But they took heart in Gov. Rick Scott’s passage of measures opposed by the NRA, such as raising the minimum age for gun purchases.
Momentum grew for their cause as companies cut ties with the NRA. At a CNN town hall, they went head to head with Sen. Marco Rubio and NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch on gun laws.
Meanwhile, they continued to put pressure on the federal government to pass universal background checks.
On March 14, one month after the shooting, scores of students across the United States walked out of class to honor the 17 victims and make sure that calls for change take into account the broader context of gun violence.
“We are standing in solidarity with the youth from the mass shooting, but we also know the repercussions of what’s going to happen next could fall on black and brown people,” said Keno Walker, who helped high school students organize walkouts in Miami.
They welcomed support
As #NeverAgain supporters set their sights on the Washington rally, partner organizations stepped up.
Giffords, the gun safety advocacy group named for congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, a mass shooting survivor, provided transportation to Washington for some Stoneman Douglas families with the help of New England Patriots CEO Robert Kraft, who provided the team’s jet to help families get to Washington.
Other Stoneman Douglas students traveled with families and friends to the march. Senior Julia Bishop said she chose to attend the rally in Washington in order to “feel the heart of support” contained within the movement.
“I wanted to stand on Capitol Hill in the shadow of our country’s legislature and express how truly enraged I am that my friends are now dead due to gun violence and there had been nothing done about it.”
Everytown for Gun Safety supplied operational and logistical resources for marches in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Milwaukee and New Orleans, the group said Sunday. Additionally, the organization said it gave out $5,000 grants to more than 200 local organizers across the country to ensure they had operational resources. The group helped to support transportation for students from cities including Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to travel to the march in D.C.
Ben and Jerry’s also chipped in with grants to fund bus transportation to the march.
For entertainment, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Common, Demi Lovato and Vic Mensa committed to performing.
Meanwhile, people in the nation’s capital lent a hand. Eleven mothers from metro D.C. banded together to find free housing for participants from out of town. Chef José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup and various DC restaurants offered free and discounted food to student marchers.
They invited more voices
The day before the rally, Stoneman Douglas senior David Hogg said the media’s biggest mistake while covering the school’s shooting was “not giving black students a voice.”
When they took the stage at March for Our Lives, Hogg and his classmates made sure to not make the same mistake. Speakers from Chicago, Brooklyn and Los Angeles also appeared onstage to describe how gun violence affected their communities.
“We recognize that Parkland received more attention because of its affluence,” Jaclyn Corin, a survivor of the Parkland shooting, said in her speech. “But we share this stage today and forever with those communities who have always stared down the barrel of a gun.”
Corin was joined onstage by Yolanda Renee King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s granddaughter. The 9-year-old said that like her grandfather, she too has a dream, in which “enough is enough.”
Naomi Wadler, an elementary school student from Virginia, said she was speaking on behalf of African-American girls “whose stories don’t make the front page” of national newspapers.
They encouraged everyone to attend
The students invited others to join them and provided a toolkit to help people organize their own marches. More than 800 groups marched in cities across the US and internationally, including in London, Madrid, Rome and Tokyo.
In Boston, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School graduate Leslie Chiu said the march was about gun violence in general, not just school shootings.
“This is not just in Parkland,” she said. “It is in every community, especially those of color. … This is not a moment. This is a movement.”
They promised there’s more to come
Student-activists elswhere are calling for another national walkout on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. The Network for Public Education is urging people on the same day to to bring attention to school safety through walkouts, sit-ins or rallies.
Otherwise, #NeverAgain is turning its attention to the November midterms to vote out politicians who don’t appear to support gun law reform.
“They’ve gotten used to being protective of their position, the safety of inaction,” Hogg told the crowd in Washington on Saturday.
“To those politicians supported by the NRA that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say get your resumés ready.”
At a rally in Fort Lauderdale, senior Emma González called BS on politicians who said no law could have prevented the massacre. […] – CNN
And the 6 min 20 sec “Silent” pause she did during her “March For Our Lives” speech – representing the 6 min. 20 sec the shooter rained down terror and death upon her school – was one of the most powerfully moving speeches I’ve ever seen and heard.
It spoke VOLUMES.