Tour makes Fort Lauderdale stop
Student activists focus on the power of voting
The student-led force behind the March for Our Lives movement on Friday revisited the courtyard of the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale to inspire voters to take a stand against gun violence and NRA-cozy politicians.
The next phase of themovement borne of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is dual bus tours, statewide and nationwide. Onboard are the #MSDstrong band of changemakers thrust from suburban student life into activism. Their mission? To register voters, encourage the youth vote and upend the mid-term elections. The dominant mantra: “We will vote you out.”
“What we would like to hammer home today is thatwe hold the power in this country,” Delaney Tarr, a 2018 Stoneman Douglas graduate, said before taking the stage. “We hold the power through voting. We hold the power through civil disobedience. We hold the power through speaking out.”
Friday evening’s rally marked the final stop of the first leg of the statewide “Road to Change” tour that runs in tandem with a nationwide bus trek. The next round of Florida stops will focus on the central part of the state.
Three days after the Feb. 14 Parkland school shooting that killed 17 and wounded another 17, senior Emma Gonzalez stood on the same courthouse steps and poignantly and tearfully called B.S. on politicians who
gush with “thoughts and prayers” after mass shootings yet continue to accept donations from the National Rifle Association. Gonzalez is now traveling with the national bus tour.
Tarr also made a plea for life-saving change on Feb. 17. She returned Friday to further the message.
“We marched for our lives,” she said of the massive gun-violence protest that ignited thousands to gather in Washington, D.C., and around the nation. “Now it’s time thatwe vote for our lives.”
Tarr was joined Friday by about half a dozen other speakers— current Stoneman Douglas students, recent grads and alumni. The event was attended by about100 people at the most, largely student activists, their families and the media.
But 14-year-old Tess Segal, with her mother and a sign that read “1,021days
“We hold the power through voting. We hold the power through civil disobedience. We hold the power through speaking out.”
Delaney Tarr, 2018 Stoneman Douglas graduate
until I can register to vote,” made the trek from Weston to stand in solidarity.
“Iwant to make it clear that wanting your voice to be heard is a bipartisan thing, everyone wants their voice to be heard,” said the incoming freshman at Cypress Bay High School. “My countdown is about being a human, not being a liberal.”