We are as angry and determined as ever.

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Dear John,

Content warning: We wanted to let you know where we stand on the guilty plea from the Parkland killer. If this is too much to read today, we understand. Take care of yourself and skip the rest of this email.

Today we learned that the killer in the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida will plead guilty to all seventeen charges of murder. Our broader community has been grieving for nearly four years. And we are still grieving. If you’re looking for our stance, we have no comment on him. We will never dignify him by referring to his name, and we ask that the media do the same. Instead, we honor victims and survivors by telling their stories, not his.

We wish we could say that this guilty plea gives us any sense of closure. But it doesn’t. The system that allowed for this tragedy to happen in the first place -- that stole our friends’ lives too soon, and that forced their families to cope with truly senseless loss -- that system is still broken. This decision doesn’t change that, nor will it bring back their lives.

In 2020 alone, more than 40,000 lives were lost in the US to gun violence. This is a systemic crisis and a uniquely American epidemic. We must work toward combating gun violence by preventing it from happening in the first place; by dismantling the NRA’s stranglehold on Congress and disrupting the glorification of guns that’s so pervasive in our country’s culture; by healing our nation’s mental health crisis and raising families up from below the poverty line; by liberating ourselves from its root causes and eradicating it completely.

Until then, we will not feel closure in the truest sense. Until there is a place in this country where we can go without fear of being shot, we’ll continue to be appalled and disgusted that policymakers play political games with our lives, rather than do what needs to be done to prevent any more gun deaths.

As young people, we shouldn’t have to do this work, but we have no choice. We are not at peace, we are as angry and determined as ever.

March For Our Lives

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March For Our Lives
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