March For Our Lives and Black Lives Too
posted by Misha Thomas | May 4, 2018 | In News, OpinionMarch For Our Lives was an experience that I will never forget. I was a part of one of the largest youth protests since the Vietnam War. The NAACP chapter for youth and colleges division sponsored our entire trip. Other sponsors who helped were MTV’s Social Impact team, Every Town for Gun Safety, United States Student Association, Young People For, the American Postal Workers Union, and the AFL-CIO.
We received breakfast and lunch, water bottles, posters and a huge amount of support. Our civil rights organizer’s name was Tiffany Dena Loftin. She also became the new director of the youth & college division, not too long before the protest was set.
Loftin made three key points to us all before we took to march through D.C. The first was that the social media and news outlets will not ignore Black voices. The second was that our agenda will not be excluded from gun prevention reform that includes the intersections of Black lives: gangs, guns, police brutality, and state violence must be addressed and something has to be done to prevent more lives from being lost. The final point Loftin made to us was that we are here to have fun as we have already made our presence known.
March For Our Lives was created to bring awareness to gun violence reform and gun violence in schools. Yet, if it is not recognized that our lives are being left bloody and full of bullets in streets, in churches, in jail, in our cars, in our own homes then March For Our Lives was meant for the dominant society, white lives. That’s the largest demographic to convince that our lives are sacred too.
Yet, what gave me hope was the vast majority of demographics in attendance. All races were there, there were Black people, Latinos, white people, young and old, from the east and the west coast.
One woman smiled and said to me, “We’re counting on you.”
I realized that it will take people from my age group and especially those nearing the age of eighteen to shake the foundation. We will have the power to change a nation, a government that silences or removes any threat, bill or law that does not best suit them.
I was proud to see youth so young demonstrating and voicing their concerns and opinions about gun violence. I believe the youngest in attendance was an 11-year-old, named Namoi in elementary school. To see kids so young, understand what has happened not just with school shootings, but with Black Lives Matter and police brutality was simply amazing. Along with FSU students, there were students who traveled from Atlanta, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Chicago. Collectively we were a unit, and we marched, laughed and fought together for our cause.
With the help of social media, using hashtags like, #enough, #naacpnow and #iwillmarch we were successful in getting the conversation started, and I had fun. I was informed, I was challenged and in the end, I was empowered being a part of history with my people. I look forward to what is to come.
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