Turning this American nightmare back into a dream.

This was a speech I gave on the the steps of Widener Library at Harvard University in the wake of the most recent school shooting in Nashville.

Nearly 250 years ago, George Washington took control of the Continental Army — right here in Cambridge, just a minute’s walk away in Cambridge Common. For 8 long years, Washington led over 200 thousand men on a campaign against the British and led the American people on a campaign against tyranny.

What they did here has laid the groundwork for American society. Life — Liberty — and the pursuit of happiness. This is the founding creed of our nation — upon which we all agree. These are not just words. They are a creed that we all believe in. They are a shared value that we must devote ourselves toward.

I too believe in this creed. That Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness are essential inalienable rights — a freedom valued more in this country than profits or power.

But today, we still have not fulfilled that creed. Today, thousands of Americans unceremoniously lose their lives every year at the hands of handguns. Today, the liberty we all deserve is subjugated when we have to risk our lives — simply by going to school. How can we pursue happiness when you must worry about taking your daughter to get fitted for a dress one day, and taking her to be fitted for a tiny casket the next.

Today, not all Americans are interested in this creed. They are only interested in the world of anything goes and corporate greed.

Today, the NRA is only interested in the profits of guns.

They say that there is nothing to be done. They say that we need to sell more guns to make more money.

Today, our politicians have become complacent.

They like to shift blame upon anyone except for themselves. They are the greedy few.

But who are they? Who are they to tell us what the truth of this nation is?

They have given up on our freedom.

They are the ones who sell the guns, yet they are the ones who solemnly swear that guns must be sold.

They are the ones who make the laws, yet they are the ones who solemnly swear that no new laws can be made.

They are the ones who make the money, yet they are the ones who solemnly swear that all solutions are too expensive.

The pollsters and the pundits; the NRA and corrupt politicians; the few and the greedy tell us that there is nothing we can do. They have turned the American dream into an American Nightmare.

But I tell you today, We can wake up from this nightmare.

We can swear in new leaders by joining together across racial differences — We are those leaders.

We can rewrite the rules to protect our kids and not the profits of the gun lobby.

We can be the last generation to live in fear. We can be the last generation to run, hide, fight.

The solutions are right in front of us. The opportunity is right in front of us. It is a open door, you need only walk.

Today, here in Massachusetts, many of the solutions brought in this state ought to be enacted across the country. Some folks come up to me and say: David, there’s nothing we can do. There’s no single policy that works. It’s true. There’s no single policy. It’s a multitude of solutions, all enacted right here in Massachusetts.

These solutions are not novel: A background check — 3 references — an interview with the police department — simple training. These are not some complex solutions involving taking everyone’s gun away.

And we know it works too! Massachusetts has a gun death rate 70% lower than the rest of the country. The single best thing we could do to address gun violence in this country is to federalize Massachusetts’ gun laws to save thousands of lives a year. But our work is never done. We can still do better for the hundreds more, who died at the hands of guns here in this state last year. We can push a new frontier of this issue.

How many of you are student researchers?

To the student researchers, you can explore a new frontier by going to grad school and becoming the next generation of researchers interested in policy that saves lives.

How many of you want to run for office?

To the student future politicians, you can lead a new frontier by representing the thousands of students who must live in fear.

How many of you want to be professors?

To the future academics in the audience, you can advance this new frontier by writing papers on gun violence in America.

It’s ok I know most of you still are probably going to become CEOs and investment bankers. (Pause to let everyone process)

To the future CEOs and Investment bankers, you can support a new frontier by changing the tides of corporate greed and refusing to business with the gun industry and lobby. You can make death an unprofitable business. No company in our nation should profit from the slaughter of our children.

For the seniors in the audience, we are just 51 days away from commencement. On that day, our time here at Harvard will come to an end. You will turn around, sit on this lawn behind you, and listen to Bacow, Tom Hanks, and many more. But not all college students will experience throwing their caps in the air like us because they have already been thrown into an early grave.

Arielle Diamond Anderson, Brian Fraser, and Alexandria Verner. These are the names of the students at Michigan State University who were killed this year. They will never get to see their graduation.

Devin Chandler, D’Sean Perry, Lavel (LEE VALL) Davis Jr. These are the names of the students who were killed at the University of Virginia last year. They, too, will never get to see their graduation.

Here at Harvard, we tend to live in an insular community. How many of you wish you went out to Boston a few more times, despite how easy it is? You might think what happened there — could never happen here. But really, do we truly think that’s true?

For the seniors, our time here at Harvard is coming to an end, but I hope that your experience as a student leader never leaves you. Once you leave these hallowed halls for the last time, you can still do more.

Many of you will leave here and start working in corporate America. That’s ok. You don’t all need to be activists. But I ask you today. Do just one courageous thing in your career.

If you want to make real change and are an investment banker, you can avoid investing in Smith & Wesson, the company that made the AR-15 used at my high school in Parkland Florida — Just one courageous thing.

If you want to make real change and are a consultant in the Big 3, you can avoid consulting for a company that supports the gun violence industrial complex in the United States — Just one courageous thing.

I don’t need you all to go out and be active every day. Many of you will have so much power that if even you just went out into the world and avoided doing the wrong thing just once, you would do more good than most people in a lifetime.

If you want to make real change and you want to get involved directly in gun safety, the best thing you can do is run for state legislature. I know many of you are from Texas, Arizona, and Florida, these are all states we need. You can be the seed of grassroots change when you go home.

If you’re a student that’s still looking for a purpose — Here it is: a field that is altogether unexplored: Gun violence research is needed to save lives across this country.

But again, I am asking that each and every one of you does just one courageous thing in your career.

What that might look like is refusing to do a job for the NRA. It will be hard. But when your kid asks you what you did to keep them safe in schools, you can say you took a stand.

Standing for the right thing is worth a lot more than standing for the easy thing.

Harvard, here is a courageous thing for you to do. This university can set up a center in the government department dedicated to gun violence policy and how to eradicate this issue. A center that brings gun owners, activists, survivors, and Americans of all backgrounds to work together for a common cause of peace.

My friends, it might not be this year or next. But when you have the opportunity in the future to do the right thing, think back to this moment, and make the right decision for the sake of our children and our generation.

For the current politicians in the audience, you must know that Massachusetts can do more. While the national politicians dilly dally and prevent funding to stop gun violence research, Massachusetts can fund research itself. You can help us all better understand what it is about the gun laws of this state that are so effective that we have a gun death rate 70% lower than the US average.

While the national politicians claim there is no way to get guns off the streets, Massachusetts can set up a voluntary gun buyback program, so that if you inherit a gun you don’t want, there’s a clear and straight process to handle that gun. Where people in the state can voluntarily give in their guns if they so choose. Again, all voluntary.

While the national politicians say that solutions are too complicated, Massachusetts can increase funding for violence intervention programs pioneered by Black activists, centered on addressing why someone wants to pick up a gun in the first place, not just how they got it.

Massachusetts can push a new frontier on this issue. Just as this state has led the way for policy that can save lives across the country, it can become the state that incorporates the newest and most innovative solutions. The state legislature and our governor can write to the president, write to Congress, write to the American people and offer an example on how to dramatically reduce gun violence without banning most guns in this country. And working across party lines. Some of the biggest gun reform bills in this country have been signed by Republican governors.

If you all don’t think you can be the leaders, look no further than right here in yard. JFK lived right there (point to weld). Here too lived Lincoln’s son, RFK, FDR, and more.

These halls were once places where leaders were cultivated. And they still are. But now these same halls — right down the street (point near Lev) — are being invaded by armed guards who just yesterday held four of our classmates at gunpoint. That violence has no place here. We must do more.

MLK — only 60 years ago — spoke just across the way, at that church. He was stolen from us by gun violence, 55 years ago today. So too was the man who spent freshman year in that building (point to weld), stolen from us and his family by a gunman. His brother faced the same fate, as did Lincoln.

And so were my friends and classmates, who could have been the next generation of leaders.

Think of all the leaders who never made it to the Oval Office, or the steps of Capitol Hill. All the future leaders we lost cowering in the corner of a classroom.

From the richest and most powerful to the poorest and least well known, everyone is a victim of this epidemic.

This is why we must deal with gun violence. It has stolen our future. It is antithetical to the American experiment. And it corrupted the American dream, turning it into a nightmare.

It is incumbent on all of us to wake up to gun violence, make that dream a reality, and demand unity. Not as republicans or democrats, but as Americans.

Politics has seasons, and we have gone through a long, hard Boston winter. But spring is here. We must demand action from elected officials, for we dictate their future — we are their bosses.

Today, let’s remember the legacy of the leaders that came before us. As the prophetic president, who spent freshman years just there, called upon us — as Americans — to do:

Let us fight for this change not because it is the easy thing to do, or because it is the hard thing to do. Let us fight together for this change because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Let us show up here next year and every single year after this to show the state legislature that we are NOT going away. We aren’t just showing up AFTER the next shooting. We are showing up again and again to STOP the next shooting from ever happening in the first place.

So what can you do right now? Here is our three-fold call to action at Harvard, in our local community, and on a national scale.

First, sign our petition to demand Harvard to make a public statement in support of the Gun Violence Prevention legislation.

Second, call your elected officials and organize around Representative Maxwell Frost’s bill to create an Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Find Rachel Jacoby in the crowd after and she will get you plugged in.

And third, join the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute for the annual Mother’s Day Walk for Peace on May 14th to stand alongside victims and survivors of gun violence from around the Boston area. Massachusetts has great gun laws, but folks in underserved communities like Dorchester, Jamaica Plains, and others are still living with everyday gun violence.

Because despite the work that we still must do, I believe that the majority do not have to bow down to the loud minority.

I believe that we can create an America where you can drop your kids off at school and you don’t have to worry about seeing them in the afternoon.

I believe that we can create an America where whether you live in a Black community, or a white community, or an asian community, or a jewish community, or a christian community, or a hispanic community, or trans community you can know that your kid will be safe when they play outside or go to the store for some skittles or simply exist as who they are

I believe that we can create an America where you can tuck your kid in bed at night and they go to a school safe from shooters.

I believe that we can create an America where the biggest stressor in the morning is whether we listen to NPR or Drake — and not whether we will survive the day.

I believe that we can create an America where no one ever has to use their student journalism skills to report on the shooting happening in their own school ever again.

I believe that we can create an America where a child’s biggest fear is life sciences and not making it home alive.

I believe that we can create an America where kids can see schools as schools and not as slaughterhouses.

I believe that we can create an America where the NRA does not dictate our fate. Where we will forge a new world — where love will conquer their hate.

I believe that we can create an America where Run, Hide, Fight are no longer words we have to tell our children because WE ran for office. Because WE did not hide from responsibility and WE fought for our freedom.

I believe that we can make our American dreams a reality and not a nightmare.

I believe in freedom. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness are not just words we teach our kids but a solemn vow — that every American deserves. A life that is uninhibited by an early grave at the hands of a gun. A Liberty that is uninhibited by fear of gun violence. A pursuit of happiness that is uninhibited by needless death and early caskets.

In this vein, I make a pledge to you today. I will not give up. I will not give in. I will never give up on an American dream or stop believing.

When I leave Harvard in 51 days, I will continue marching in state capitols, on capitol hill, in schools, and on the streets. I am young, and I want to grow old. You (many of you) are all young, and I want you all to grow old.

Friends, to all of you that hear me. I appeal to you now: Let us ensure that no child is needlessly killed at the hands of a gun again so that they can enjoy their life. Join me in making a pledge today toward someone you love. Let us work together not as Republicans or as Democrats — but as Americans. Let us make this change a reality so that the older brothers of the future have the liberty of never becoming an activist at all. Let us join together in the pursuit of the belief that, someday, just as George Washington started a fight for freedom in this town, we can start a fight for freedom here as well. A fight for a freedom where school shootings and gun violence will be left to our history books and not our headlines.

All too many of us have had the words ru, hide, fight, drilled into our heads as a survival strategy for school shootings. But those who tell us that is our old way to survive are right.

Run? I’m tired of us running away from this issue, and start running against the leaders who won’t defend us.

Hide? I’m tired of hiding under desks as Republican puppets of the NRA hide in their office shooting after shooting sending their thoughts and prayers hiding from the responsibility they have as leaders. If they won’t change the laws I call on us to not hide, I call on us to

Fight and change who’s in government and create a fight for all Americans, gun owners, liberals, conservatives, young and old to join this fight against gun violence together so that in the future the only three things 5th graders need to remember in civics are not run hide fight. But life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And through re affirming those principles as americans and living by them. One day we may turn this American nightmare not just into a dream but a reality for all.