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Orange is the new color for gun violence survivors.
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That is the reason Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor Emma González gave today as she walked the streets of New York City in an orange jumpsuit.
She was part of the 4-20 national school walk out and a day to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting.
I walked out so far I ended up in NY !❤️ Remembering Columbine today in our moments of silence, in servicing our communities, and in loving each other. Orange is the color for gun violence survivors, and we wear it today in solidarity of one another. pic.twitter.com/9SFSACvMlb
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) April 20, 2018
After 17 students and faculty were murdered by a lone 19-year-old gunman in Parkland, Florida on Valentine’s Day, González emerged along with David Hogg and a handful of others as the most visible spokespeople for the movement to demand sensible gun laws in America, which is the best way to keep schools safe.
She has become a leader of the #NeverAgain movement.
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At a rally in Florida, González made a passionate speech where she repeatedly used the phrase: “We call BS” about NRA-funded politicians, gun advocates and those who don’t believe the Parkland teenagers know enough to speak up.
On March 25, she was a leader at the “March For Our Lives “rally in Washington DC, where she told the crowd, “Six minutes and about 20 seconds, In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us, 15 were injured and everyone in the Douglas community was forever altered.”
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González read out the names of those who died in the mass shooting at the rally, associating each one with things like joking, smiling and playing basketball – that they “would never” do again.
She then fell silent for four minutes at the end of her remarks.
Today, González said she chose to recycle an old Halloween costume inspired by the Netflix TV show “Orange Is The New Black,” about women in prison, to make a point.
This prisoner jumpsuit was my Halloween costume 2 years ago (OITNB) but I wore it today because our schools are looking more like prisons and bomb shelters and less like the learning institutes our parents had the privilege of enjoying.
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) April 20, 2018
On the back are the letters MSD for her high school.
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She said, she wears it in solidarity with the organization #WeWearOrange which “was started by the family of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton who was shot and killed in Chicago. The color was chosen because it’s what hunters wear to be seen.”
González, the openly bisexual president of the Stoneman Douglas High Gay-Straight Alliance, has talked about how her sexuality fuels her activism.
The 18-year-old high school senior is in New York City this week where she was honored with the LGBT Center’s Community Impact Award.
This week González was also named to Time Magazine’s list of 100 people who matter in 2018.
González, like fellow student David Hogg, has pledged to keep working to get sensible gun laws by registering students to vote and helping elect candidates in November and beyond who will stand up to the NRA and pass laws that make America safer.
