Remember the February 14 mass shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., a little over eight months ago, but perhaps now a blurred, distant memory because there have been so many other gun tragedies since then?
Remember the 17 young students and teachers who would never come home again?
Remember, one month later, the March for Our Lives, where hundreds of thousands of high school students from all over the country organized, marched and spoke up demanding that they be allowed to attend school without the fear of being gunned down?
Remember how the young people who organized, led and participated in those demonstrations and in other gun reform movements – many of them survivors of the Parkland shooting – were called trouble makers, immature, that they didn’t “fully grasp the issues at hand because their brains have not fully developed yet”?
Remember the names David Hogg, Emma González, Jaclyn Corin and Matt Deitsch?
Well, even if some of us have forgotten the names of these Parkland school shooting survivors, the world community has not
A week ago, at a special ceremony in Cape Town, South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu presented the 2018 International Children’s Peace Prize 2018 to David, Emma, Jaclyn and Matt.
The International Children’s Peace Prize is an initiative of the international children’s rights organization KidsRights. It is “awarded annually to a child who fights courageously for children’s rights. All winners have shown a remarkable commitment to combating problems millions of children face worldwide,” according to the KidsRight Foundation.
During the ceremony, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who has been the patron of The International Children’s Peace Prize and KidsRights for more than a decade, said:
The peaceful campaign to demand safe schools and communities and the eradication of gun violence is reminiscent of other great peace movements in history. I am in awe of these children, whose powerful message is amplified by their youthful energy and an unshakable belief that children can, no must, improve their own futures. They are true changemakers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world.
More on David, Emma, Jaclyn, Matt and March for Our Lives:
David, Emma, Jaclyn and Matt co-initiated March for Our Lives alongside more than 20 other students, after their school was the scene of a mass shooting in Parkland, Florida this past February, with 17 fatal casualties. Personally affected by the tragedy, they responded by organizing the March for Our Lives event in the spring of 2018 to demand safer schools and communities and to protest gun violence. Hundreds of thousands participated in the rally and more than 800 sister marches took place that same day across the US and beyond. For David, Emma, Jaclyn and Matt, this was only the beginning. In the summer of 2018 the group took to the road, visiting 80 communities in 24 states leading discussions and advocating for the creation of safer communities. They lobbied, held town hall rallies, and motivated thousands of young people to register to vote. The March for Our Lives movement has continued to be highly vocal and very successful. Since its advent, over 25 US states have passed more than 50 pieces of legislation in line with their cause.
Thank you and congratulations David, Emma, Jaclyn and Matt
Watch their story below
Lead image courtesy KidsRights Foundation
