Dear Emma: Your movement may change gun debate

Editor’s note: Neil Willenson, of Bayside, who as a young person founded Camp Heartland (now One Heartland) to help young people affected by HIV/AIDS, wrote this open letter to Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. Gonzalez gave a moving speech recently after a gunman killed 17 people at her school.

Dear Emma,

On behalf of all adults, I would like to apologize to you and your courageous young friends. Because of the inaction, ineptitude, greed and silence of our political leaders, power brokers and everyday Americans like me, you are now leading a movement that should have been led by adults years ago.

Instead, a brave and determined group of grieving teenagers had to appeal to the conscience of America.

I owe you an apology. After many of the gunrelated massacres, I was moved to post my feelings on social media but that was the extent of what I did. I remained silent. I am both a nonprofit and corporate executive and did not want to offend any donors or business partners. I have personal and professional relationships with celebrities, top corporate executives and political leaders. Yet, I have rarely used my voice in recent years to try to persuade them to enact sensible, reasonable gun policies.

But after watching you deliver an emotional, powerful, raw and impassioned plea for common-sense action, I am reminded that I still have a voice, and I can no longer remain silent.

You and other young activists should be working on your college applications and enjoying your final years of high school. Instead, you are survivors of a high school massacre. But rather than grieve and heal in silence, you are using your voices in a powerful way. My entire household watched your speech in awe, admiration and sadness.

How did America allow this to happen? How did we fail you, those who died, those who were injured and all the others who were affected by

this tragedy? How did we allow 38,658 gun deaths in 2016?

How have we failed a generation of children and teenagers who have faced such trauma in their young lives? Have we intervened with comprehensive mental health care and other services to help them heal from their emotional wounds? How have we allowed a seemingly growing group of teens and young adults to sink to such depravity and hopelessness that they destroy other young lives and families?

A good friend of ours lost a dear friend who was a teacher at your school, and my own young cousin lost her 14year old friend. We may live in the Midwest but we feel your pain.

We failed you because the uncompromising gun lobby, led by Wayne LaPierre, paid off politicians from both parties. The National Rifle Association peddled the narrative that anyone who wants sensible gun regulations, such as waiting periods and expanded background checks, wants to “take away your guns.” The truth is that the majority of gun owners support reasonable safeguards and limitations, yet somehow a group of zealots gained enough influence that politicians now vote against the will of the American people.

When 5- and 6-year-old children were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Conn., in 2012, and no action was taken by political leaders other than offering “thoughts and prayers,” I knew nothing would change. After a man injured 500 people and killed dozens in Las Vegas last year, again nothing was offered but “thoughts and prayers.”

But now thanks to you and your army of teenage leaders, I am finally optimistic that things will change. Neither the president nor the Senate, House, state government leaders or the NRA can beat this movement. The youth will lead us.

Years ago as a child, I was deeply inspired by videos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement. I wondered if I had I been alive during the movement if I would have had the courage to join it.

I am glad today that I have the opportunity to join a new movement. I am glad to be a soldier in your army.