By Deena Sherman –
By the time you read these words, students at approximately 1,600 schools across the country will have walked out of their classrooms at 10 a.m. across each U.S. time zones. The occasion is the one-month anniversary, March 14, of the shooting that killed 17 individuals at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. West Aurora High School was one of the schools.
Prior to the walk-out, I asked West Aurora High School junior, Joselyn Salas, why she planned to participate in this act of civil disobedience. She said, “I personally did it because I should not be afraid of going to school or have to worry that any day I go to school could be my last day ever in this world! Also, I wanted to let students know that they have a voice and can use it to make a difference.”
Salas is proud of the way students are making schools listen. West High has been quick to partner with students as they navigate the problem of school violence. But Salas was quick to say that this is not enough. She feels the ultimate goal is to make legislators and gun manufacturers listen, too.
In spite of the efforts of individuals such as Gabby Giffords, congresswoman, 2006-2012, who was shot in 2011 at point blank range, and groups such as Moms Demand Action, who have worked tirelessly for years to bring about common sense solutions to gun violence. Nothing really has changed since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 when 20 elementary schoolchildren and six educators were killed. I understand the students’ frustration and applaud their courage to work for change.
I am tired of seeing individuals such as Florida State representative, Elizabeth Porter, or TribLive.com commentator, Michelle Malkin, demeaning and dismissing the students of the #neveragain movement. Porter said, “The adults make the laws because we have the age. We have the wisdom. . . . We have to make laws with our heads and not with our emotions.” Malkin wrote an opinion entitled Don’t Let the Children Lead.
Maybe these women and I run in different circles, but the students I know and the teenagers I raised not so long ago, are thoughtful and level-headed, along with being passionate about the things they believe in.
Salas confirmed that while being passionate about protesting, she always makes sure she has the facts. She said that “This isn’t only about guns, it is also about mental health. As a country we say we don’t tolerate bullying, but we don’t do anything until someone dies and then action only lasts for a short period of time.”
She wants her voice to be part of the chorus of young voices that demand lasting change. “We can’t stay quiet any longer!” she said.
My son, who is a public schoolteacher in Peoria shared many of the same conclusions. He said, “School shootings reveal the priorities of our political leaders: Underfunding education while lining their own pockets with money from the gun lobby. See how quick they were to suggest arming teachers instead of simply funding schools adequately? The underfunding of schools is part of the problem when at-risk students, who might commit these atrocities, fall through the cracks! We need to get legislators’ attention somehow, and this is one of the ways that students and teachers can do it.”
Rather than seeing these students as leading or following, let’s look at them as partners with the adults who have been seeking common sense gun reform and better funding, or at least no more cuts, for mental health services. Only if we all work together do we have any hope of pushing politicians to see past campaign contributions and hear the voices of their constituents who want tangible progress toward preventing future massacres at our schools!