SHOOTING SPURS SIBLINGS to ACTION ON GUN REFORMS
Deitsches have worked to motivate youngsters
PARKLAND, Fla. — Last February, Matt Deitsch was living his dream studying at a California university. His brother, Ryan, was about to graduate from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and head to college. Sister Sam was halfway through her freshman year at the Parkland school.
Since the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at the school, the brothers have put college on hold and moved into the national spotlight as they helped organize March for Our Lives, sparking a national conversation about gun control. The three siblings have crisscrossed the country speaking about assault rifle bans and universal background checks and visiting college campuses to register young voters.
Matt, now 21, flew to South Africa to accept the International Children’s Peace Prize. He and Ryan worked with “Avengers” actor Mark Ruffalo to write a public service announcement encouraging young people to vote.
“I don’t think anyone can truly explain the political journey we’ve been thrust onto. I feel like we have a better understanding of our nation’s politics than most of our politicians” Ryan said.
Last Valentine’s Day, Stoneman Douglas alumnus Matt was working with a startup T-shirt company that student Joaquin Oliver was going to model for three days later. Instead, Deitsch attended Oliver’s funeral that Saturday.
Ryan hid in a closet in his journalism class during the shooting and emerged to grab footage for the school newspaper.
Sam lost a close friend. She’s spent the past year in therapy and giving speeches about gun violence. She turns 16 Thursday, the first anniversary of the day her friend and 16 others died.
All three siblings found comfort in advocacy and one another.
Just hours after the shooting, the high school students became impossible to ignore — riding their bikes to TV interviews, trolling politicians on social media and rallying around the cry of “Never Again.”
Almost overnight, students like Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg became household names. Behind the scenes, more than a dozen others — among them the redheaded Deitsch siblings — worked to launch what would become a longer-term grassroots campaign.
Matt helped write many of the talking points “so that we could counterpunch what was being used against us which was incredibly more aggressive than we could ever imagine.”
These days, Ryan helps to run the organization’s content committee, making sure the message is on point whether it’s a video or merchandising. He has deferred college for now, drawing a meager salary from March for Our Lives.
Matt, director of strategy, runs the day-to-day operations along with Jaclyn Corin.
This year’s goal is to find creative ways to engage with disinterested youth.
“We had hundreds of thousands of students stand up and become politically active for the first time in their lives,” Matt said. “And every day there’s more of us.”