Victimized Students Create a Movement of Change
The effects of March for Our Lives on our generation
By Sadhana Mandala
The Progressive Teen Staff Writer
FEBRUARY 14th. Before last year I would associate that day with Valentine’s Day; however, that date will forever be remembered as the anniversary of America’s deadliest high school shooting for an entire generation of children. When people are asked to remember a significant event while growing up, it was 9/11 for our parents’ generation. For generation Z, it’s mass shootings and specifically the Parkland shooting in Florida.
While most mass shootings in America seem to constitute a moment of shock, followed by a moment of grief, and then people move on to the next headline, the students of Parkland have made sure that this time the story is different. The students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland have become the faces of America’s war on gun violence, organizing a nationwide protest demanding gun change in Congress to protect their lives and those of millions of other students around the country. A month later, around half a million students gathered for the March for Our Lives demonstration in Washington D.C., with Capitol Hill in the background emphasizing the significant change needed and where the change must originate from. Over 800 sister marches were organized across the country in the same fashion, all demanding the same thing: Sensible gun laws in America. Organizing the nationwide demonstration were Parkland survivors: Cameron Kasky, Emma González, David Hogg, Jacklyn Corinn, Alex Wind and Ryan Deitsch, all of whom have emphasized that their mission is to “demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.”
Speeches at the March for Our Lives in D.C. struck the hearts of people in the crowd, and those watching on their TV screens at home. “ Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen Schentrup would never complain to me about piano practice, Aaron Feis would never call Kiera ‘Miss Sunshine’, Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan, Scott Beigel would never joke around with Cameron at camp, Alaina Petty would never, Chris Hixon would never, Luke Hoyer would never, Martin Duque Anguiano would never, Peter Wang would never, Alyssa Alhadeff would never, Jamie Guttenberg would never!” said Emma Gonzales at the March for Our Lives with tears streaming down her face as she recited the names of her dead classmates and the lives they never had to live. Lives that were instantly cut short by the split second of a bullet puncturing their bodies and killing them instantly. Her tears and those of many others in the crowd were not only for the students who died in Parkland but from imagining their own friends, cousins, and family members who could very well have been on that list.
“1 in 63” are the chances that your child’s school will be in a shooting at some point in their life. Those numbers might seem high and unrealistic, but the reality is that school shootings and deaths by gun violence are at an all-time high and will not decrease unless we make an actual legislative change. America has always portrayed itself as a safe, strong and powerful country and that is true to an extent. When children are getting gunned down in their schools however, it is not safe, and not the America that refugees flee their war-torn countries to be a part of. Twenty children ranging from the ages of 6–8 were gunned down in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. If the country didn’t react and make a change when elementary children were being killed, why would they when high schoolers are being killed? The difference now is that children and students have stopped waiting for the adults, Representatives, Senators, and Presidents to make the change on gun reform. They are taking to the streets and making it happen for themselves. The reason the country reacted so viscerally to the speeches at the 2018 March is because everyone at home knew that they had done nothing to stop this shooting from occurring. Everyone knew that those 17 lives in Parkland could have been saved if an adult, a Senator, a Representative had spoken up and demanded gun control earlier. Instead, traumatized children who just lost their classmates were left to pick up the pieces and call for a reform of the country’s laws. “The adults know that we’re cleaning up their mess,” Kasky told Time Magazine. This harsh reality was a necessary evil that shook the ground for thousands of Americans, making everyone realize the extent to which the country had failed.
Through the tears, marches, demonstrations, and speeches, the students were the cause of the magnificent change that has occurred nationwide. Although no federal laws have been passed to reduce gun violence, states have made their own strides in addressing the issue at hand. The New York Times reports that “26 state legislators and Washington D.C. have passed 69 different gun control measures more than any year since the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.” This year we have seen the number of gun control laws outnumber the number of laws that loosen gun control. CBS News reports, “ 7 states have expanded background checks and 8 allowed law enforcement to confiscate weapons from at-risk individuals. Specifically, Maryland, which has a Republican governor, enacted a red flag law and banned bump stocks. Oregon closed the so-called boyfriend loopholes. In Florida, a new law raised the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21.” It is truly remarkable to see the change made at the state level because of the Parkland students’ persistence and perseverance. They did not let the shooting in their school go to the back of the page while new news events took the headline. They consistently fought to make sure that the issue of school shootings stayed prevalent on the world stage, and that people pay attention. Attention was certainly caught by state legislators and Representatives. Statewide change is a reality because the students around the country are organizing protests and demanding that their representatives listen to their concerns or get booted out of office in the next midterm elections. It truly shows the power of public opinion and how it shapes America and the laws that govern.
Thanks to the Parkland students and their allies, lawmakers weren’t the only ones making the long overdue changes. The pressure was exerted on America’s most influential citizens: the corporations. After Parkland, corporate America has made some changes. The New York Times reports, “Walmart raised its age limit to buy guns and ammunition from 18 to 21. Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling assault-style rifles. Delta Airlines and Hertz no longer offered discounts to NRA members. The Bank of America will no longer lend money to gun makers that manufacture military-style assault rifles for civilian use.” This change is the necessary action we need from our corporations, taking a stand on assault rifles and reducing the number of gun-related deaths every year. The corporate support towards this issue is a crucial change as these very same corporations were ardent supporters of the gun manufacturers before. It’s about time that gun sellers take a stand against selling assault rifles to 18-year-olds, and this new change is a remarkable move in the right direction.
At the end of the day, the March for Our Lives movement has put in place radical change that set off a chain reaction in the hearts of millions of Americans. It gives hope that the children of the future, the children who will one day sit in Congress, become the CEOs of big companies, run for President, become our doctors, lawyers and teachers, are determined youngsters who will fight diligently until their goals are met. Children who, unlike previous generations who sat back and listened to their leaders, fight back, make noise, create a media outpouring of support, organize a nationwide protest and who fight for their lives. Ultimately, it is up to everybody who cares about gun violence to stay active and continue to strive for gun reform. In the word of a sixteen-year-old Parkland survivor, Rebecca Schneider, “We understand that this is a marathon and that we’ll be fighting for years. We’re just getting started. Now we have to use our rights as voters to make things change.”
