Dear Progressive Reader,
Yesterday marked the second anniversary of the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. For many around the country, that event was a wake-up call, sparking an active youth movement to pressure politicians on the issues of gun legislation and more. But since February 2018, there have been even more deaths. According to CNN, in the year after Parkland, there was a school shooting on average every 11.8 days. According to the national database of the Gun Violence Archive, the year 2019 had 417 mass shootings—more than there were days in the calendar. This simply has to stop.
Journalist Frank Smyth wrote, in an article on our website in 2016, “in the wake of a horrific mass shooting, Congress has failed to pass even any token gun reform legislation. . . .Why can’t we do anything about massacres with semi-automatic, high-capacity guns that have helped make ours the most violent advanced nation on earth? Because we have allowed a minority of extremists to control the gun debate.” Smyth’s forthcoming book, The NRA: The Unauthorized History, is due out March 31. In it he notes that President Donald Trump is the “most ardent champion in the White House the NRA has ever had.” It is time for a change in policy. As Florida high school student Uma Menon wrote on our website last year, “ I’m tired of hearing these headlines. I’m tired of looking for hiding spots in every school building. I’m tired of being afraid.”
Jane Fonda and other Hollywood celebrities gathered in Los Angeles on February 7 to kick-off the “Fire Drill Fridays” rally on the West Coast. Fonda has already ben arrested five times at similar rallies in Washington, DC. As Ed Rampell reports, “Jane Fonda, at eighty-two, is still raising hell. At the City Hall demo, the veteran dissident vowed to continue to spread Fire Drill Fridays throughout California and across America.” We also share an excerpt this week from Thom Hartmann’s new book The Hidden History of the War on Voting: Who Stole Your Vote and How to Get It Back. Michael Atkinson gives an overview of the career of Chilean political filmmaker Patricio Guzmán and his battle to preserve collective memory. And, Frances Madeson gives a preview of a new play by the late John O’Neal, and a tribute to his legacy as a pivotal force in the Black Arts Movement.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time. And, for the new year, don’t forget to click here to order your 2020 Hidden History of the United States calendar from The Progressive!
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who generously contributed to The Progressive in 2019. We truly could not keep doing this work without your support! 2020 promises to be a busy year with many new opportunities. We look forward to traveling that road together with you, our readers and supporters, as we move forward in this new year.
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