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Something is different this time. For far too long it felt like the United States had resigned itself to accepting a reality in which indiscriminate mass shootings were simply a part of our near-daily life.
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The cycle had become all-too-familiar: a shooting occurred, public outcry for strong gun reform seized the news cycle, and then everyone moved on before Congress could be pressured into actually taking action. That no longer seems to be the paradigm.
After 17 people were murdered in cold blood by a shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida the surviving students decided that something finally had to be done. The brave students have become outspoken activists for sensible gun law reform and are spearheading a powerful movement to convince Republicans in government to finally shed their NRA shackles and team up with Democrats to save lives.
Today, on the one month anniversary of the Parkland shooting a nationwide school walkout was organized in which students left their classrooms and took to the streets in a sign of solidarity with the Stoneman Douglas students. Unfortunately, some school administrations were less than amenable to their students’ very reasonable desire to protest in defense of their own and each others’ lives.
Officials at Booker T. Washington High School in Atlanta, Georgia threatened their students with “severe punishment” if they participated in the walkout. However, they did allow them to engage in “ordered protest,” which took the form of the students taking a collective knee in silent reflection The Hill reports. Some one hundred students are said to have participated.
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Moments like this are encouraging because they show that the upcoming generations might be able to solve the problems that have eluded America for years and years. If they maintain their courage and conviction, real change might be possible.
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Jamiles Lartey of The Guardian reported on the event and shared photos on Twitter.
Students at Booker T Washington High School in Atlanta talking a knee as part of the #NationalWalkoutDay protests. pic.twitter.com/bZpU8kQNjl
— Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey) March 14, 2018
They're going floor by floor here, letting students engage in VERY ordered demonstration. Anything outside that will be "severely punished" administrators say. School is actually on lockdown because of the protests, noone allowed outside. 50-100 students participating each floor pic.twitter.com/hTsZMdq0Ve
— Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey) March 14, 2018
One more of students at Washington. pic.twitter.com/3tLeiu6TyV
— Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey) March 14, 2018
Students at predominantly black schools often face a different gun landscape than those at mostly white schools.
At BTS students pass through metal detectors and have bag searches when they come in.
Three armed resource officers were overseeing throughout the protests. pic.twitter.com/0d4w1NPjAw
— Jamiles Lartey (@JamilesLartey) March 14, 2018
