Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
‘NEVER AGAIN’
Douglas High students form movement to bring about change Trip planned to Tallahassee, and a march in Washington, D.C. Memorials from the public grow at school’s campus in Parkland
After the terror, still wiping the tears, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are finding the resolve to ensure their classmates’ deaths lead to change.
Their message: “Never again.”
Never again will a gunman terrorize a school building. Never again will a mass murderer leave a community grieving.
“We’re here to make change,” senior Ariana Ortega, 17, said Sunday at the funeral of her friend Alexander Schatcher. “We don’t want any other community going through this. There is something wrong with our country right now. This is common sense.”
The teens plan a trip to Tallahassee this week to lobby legislators for gun control. They are organizing a March in Washington, D.C., on March 24. They are appearing on national TV to question why the country’s leaders have not done something to end the violence.
“We are saying as young
adults, enough is enough and we are taking that message as far as possible,” Emma Gonzalez, 18, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, told thousands at a rally Saturday.
As the teens gathered Sunday at North Community Park in Parkland, not far from the school where 14 classmates and three educators were killed Wednesday, the picnic tables under the gazebo became their makeshift headquarters to continue their campaign against gun violence.
The students led chants of “Action now,” with posters proclaiming “Gun violence is domestic terrorism” and “Enough is enough.”
After mass school shootings at Columbine High School, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook Elementary School, parents and activists urged changes to gun control policy. This time, high school students are taking the lead.
“We’re trying to flood different websites with our information, we’re trying to get people all over the state, the country, worldwide so we can stop this from continuing,” said Gonzalez, who is helping to organize the trips to the capitals.
After attending the funeral of 16-year-old Carmen Schentrup on Tuesday morning, about 100 students will board buses to Tallahassee, where they plan to meet with Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, Attorney General Pam Bondi and high-ranking legislators.
The five students responding to the shootings that killed 17 classmates and teachers at the school on Wednesday were Gonzalez, Cameron Kasky, David Hogg, Alex Wind and Jaclyn Corin.
The students have set up social media accounts for a movement they’re calling “Never Again.” The hashtag for the movement, #NeverAgain, has gone viral.
Using the newly created @NeverAgainMSD Twitter account, survivors have been getting the word out about the demonstration in Washington, D.C., called the March For Our Lives. The details are being shared on another Twitter account created by the students, @AMarch4OurLives.
They’ve been in contact with organizers of last year’s Women’s March to plan the trip to Washington.
“We are doing this for the victims, to not let them die in vain,” Corin said.
A considerable crowd gathered throughout the morning and afternoon Sunday at the school, people continuing to drop flowers at memorials and offer hugs to teary-eyed students.
It was a busy day for Gonzalez and several other students as they appeared on political talk shows Sunday morning, including NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Gonzalez said they’re bringing a message to President Donald Trump, Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, although they said their goal should be nonpartisan.
“We are talking directly to them and all other members of the United States government that are being funded by the NRA to tell them now is the time to get on the right side of this,” Gonzalez said on “Meet the Press.” “We’re going to maintain the momentum.”
There has already been a call for a national school walkout on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.
“We’re not going to let those 17 bullets we just took take us down,” Kasky told Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” “If anything, we’re going to keep running and we’re going to lead the rest of the nation behind us.”
A White House schedule says Trump will host students and teachers Wednesday.
At a rally Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Gonzalez called out the president and the NRA in a seething speech that went viral.
“If all our government can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it’s time for victims to be the change,” she said. “We don’t need thoughts and prayers. We need gun control.”
Another student had a parting shot for Trump and a recent tweet blaming Democrats for a lack of action. Trump’s tweet Saturday said: “Just like they don’t want to solve the DACA problem, why didn’t the Democrats pass gun control legislation when they had both the House & Senate during the Obama Administration. Because they didn’t want to, and now they just talk!”
“How dare you,” Hogg responded.
“You’re the president. You’re supposed to bring us together, not divide us,” he said. “How dare you. Children are dying and their blood is on your hands because of that. Please. Take action.”
CNN plans a town hall with Stoneman Douglas students at 9 p.m. Wednesday, with Jake Tapper set to moderate.