Students Demand Justice During Campus Walk-Outs
Madeline is on the marketing team here at OUT FRONT…
On Wednesday, March 14, thousands of students gathered together in solidarity for the Parkland High School shooting victims and survivors in a walk-out.
The public demonstrations are a part of a growing movement of young people holding government officials accountable for the overwhelming number of mass shootings that occur in the United States, specifically in schools.
A student from the University of Colorado, Boulder, junior Casey Caplin, said, “Well, Colorado has been touched by its fair share of gun violence, specifically in the form of mass shootings. I grew up here; Columbine was something every Coloradan and even American sort of just carried with them … until recently. It feels as though we’ve completely forgotten that feeling, the unimaginable grief of it. We’re too numb. And even after Aurora it’s still not setting in. So it’s important for the millennials, as the “mass shooting” generation, to shut that shit down. Our lives clearly don’t matter enough for our legislators to enact change, so we need to be noisy and do it ourselves.”
Many young people share the sentiment of the walk-outs. Despite the ages of protestors ranging from elementary to college students, it is a unifying experience to ensure that the safety of children is a priority.
Notable leaders in the #neveragain movement, the name that is starting to stick for those involved in the debate to improve gun control, include Emma Gonzalez, who is notorious for her shaved head and powerful speech against those who allow such lax gun control laws and weak mental health care.
Gonzalez, who is a member of the LGBTQ community and first was brought into the public eye because she is a student from the Parkland, Florida shooting, and other survivors have been the catalyst for the voices of young people to be heard finally. Hopefully, the demonstrations will mean reform and change so that Parkland will be the last school shooting.
What's Your Reaction?
Madeline is on the marketing team here at OUT FRONT and spends her free time hanging out with her dog.