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| 'It doesn't stop': Parkland students' pain still raw three months after shooting | 'It doesn't stop': Parkland students' pain still raw three months after shooting |
| (7 months later) | |
| Her English class is reading Romeo and Juliet. But in the final weeks of school this year, Eden Hebron, 15, is finding it hard to focus on the world’s most famous romantic play. | Her English class is reading Romeo and Juliet. But in the final weeks of school this year, Eden Hebron, 15, is finding it hard to focus on the world’s most famous romantic play. |
| Gun control on the ballot as activists seek reform through state initiatives | |
| She and her classmates have trouble sleeping, she said. They don’t feel safe. Three months ago, “there were three more kids in our class”, she said. “We were in the middle of writing and bullets came into our room.” | She and her classmates have trouble sleeping, she said. They don’t feel safe. Three months ago, “there were three more kids in our class”, she said. “We were in the middle of writing and bullets came into our room.” |
| On 14 February, Hebron, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, had been sitting with her friend Alyssa Alhadeff when they heard gunshots. She and her classmates scrambled to hide under their desks. She watched Alyssa fall back after being hit with a bullet. Her friend was one of three students murdered in that classroom. | On 14 February, Hebron, a freshman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school, had been sitting with her friend Alyssa Alhadeff when they heard gunshots. She and her classmates scrambled to hide under their desks. She watched Alyssa fall back after being hit with a bullet. Her friend was one of three students murdered in that classroom. |
| Today, Hebron thinks about the shooting about once every hour. “I carry it everywhere,” she said. A few weeks ago, she went to an amusement park in Orlando as a distraction. “Even there, while I’m on a ride, that’s all I can think about,” she said. “It just doesn’t stop.” | Today, Hebron thinks about the shooting about once every hour. “I carry it everywhere,” she said. A few weeks ago, she went to an amusement park in Orlando as a distraction. “Even there, while I’m on a ride, that’s all I can think about,” she said. “It just doesn’t stop.” |
| Her priority is no longer her classwork, or what now seems like the small fights she used to get into with friends. It’s spreading awareness of the need for stricter gun control laws. It’s balancing activism with therapy sessions, dealing with grief for lost friends and anger at the law enforcement failures that preceded the shooting. | Her priority is no longer her classwork, or what now seems like the small fights she used to get into with friends. It’s spreading awareness of the need for stricter gun control laws. It’s balancing activism with therapy sessions, dealing with grief for lost friends and anger at the law enforcement failures that preceded the shooting. |
| “Like, why are we reading right now when there are so many more important things to do?” Hebron said. | “Like, why are we reading right now when there are so many more important things to do?” Hebron said. |
| Just three months after the attack, one of the worst school shootings in American history, Parkland’s student activists have decisively changed the landscape of the gun debate. The National Rifle Association is on the defensive, warning its members not to be ashamed of associating with the group, and complaining of a “cyberwar” being waged against them by furious teenage survivors. | Just three months after the attack, one of the worst school shootings in American history, Parkland’s student activists have decisively changed the landscape of the gun debate. The National Rifle Association is on the defensive, warning its members not to be ashamed of associating with the group, and complaining of a “cyberwar” being waged against them by furious teenage survivors. |
| High schools across the country have staged repeated walkouts. Hundreds of thousand of people have rallied for stricter gun control laws, as a “mass shooting generation” raised on school shooter drills has protested the inaction of their lawmakers. | High schools across the country have staged repeated walkouts. Hundreds of thousand of people have rallied for stricter gun control laws, as a “mass shooting generation” raised on school shooter drills has protested the inaction of their lawmakers. |
| But since the March for Our Lives protest on 24 March, Hebron says, the media attention to the issue of gun violence has also changed. “It’s starting to die down, a little, all the news and stuff,” she said. “When I see people moving on, it’s like, How can you?” | But since the March for Our Lives protest on 24 March, Hebron says, the media attention to the issue of gun violence has also changed. “It’s starting to die down, a little, all the news and stuff,” she said. “When I see people moving on, it’s like, How can you?” |
| Before she saw her friends murdered, Hebron said, she had not known about the 1999 school shooting at Columbine high school in Colorado, which left 12 students and one teacher dead. | Before she saw her friends murdered, Hebron said, she had not known about the 1999 school shooting at Columbine high school in Colorado, which left 12 students and one teacher dead. |
| “I didn’t even know what Columbine was until the shooting at my school. I seriously did not know about it, and I think that’s a problem,” she said. | “I didn’t even know what Columbine was until the shooting at my school. I seriously did not know about it, and I think that’s a problem,” she said. |
| She worries that, despite the global protests organized by her classmates, what happened to Columbine could also happen to Parkland as time passes. | She worries that, despite the global protests organized by her classmates, what happened to Columbine could also happen to Parkland as time passes. |
| “If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it,” she said. | “If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it,” she said. |
| My summer is going to be used for advocating, and going out and speaking and traveling | My summer is going to be used for advocating, and going out and speaking and traveling |
| Parkland’s student activists, including the March for Our Lives organizers, are focusing their attention on the 2018 midterm elections. They want to translate their outrage and grief into votes for gun violence prevention candidates, and against candidates funded by the NRA. | Parkland’s student activists, including the March for Our Lives organizers, are focusing their attention on the 2018 midterm elections. They want to translate their outrage and grief into votes for gun violence prevention candidates, and against candidates funded by the NRA. |
| They are working to train themselves as longer-term organizers and political activists, and many are also working to broaden America’s gun debate focus from mass shootings to the toll of everyday gun violence, which disproportionately affects Americans of color. | They are working to train themselves as longer-term organizers and political activists, and many are also working to broaden America’s gun debate focus from mass shootings to the toll of everyday gun violence, which disproportionately affects Americans of color. |
| The Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, 17, will be volunteering this summer for the campaign of Andrew Gillum, a Democrat running for governor of Florida, whose gun violence prevention platform she admires, as well as doing training to improve her skills as an organizer. | The Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Mei-Ling Ho-Shing, 17, will be volunteering this summer for the campaign of Andrew Gillum, a Democrat running for governor of Florida, whose gun violence prevention platform she admires, as well as doing training to improve her skills as an organizer. |
| “Ninety percent of my summer is going to be used for advocating, and going out and speaking and traveling,” said Ho-Shing, who listened to gunshots and screams as she hid in a classroom three months ago. | “Ninety percent of my summer is going to be used for advocating, and going out and speaking and traveling,” said Ho-Shing, who listened to gunshots and screams as she hid in a classroom three months ago. |
| She and her mother, Vikki, have also learned to strike a balance as they embrace public campaigning. “When I first started being out there, I was missing therapy, and it’s just not helpful,” the teenager said. “So we made that a must.” | She and her mother, Vikki, have also learned to strike a balance as they embrace public campaigning. “When I first started being out there, I was missing therapy, and it’s just not helpful,” the teenager said. “So we made that a must.” |
| In April, Ho-Shing and other black Parkland students held a press conference to press the media, and their classmates, to direct more attention to the needs and priorities of students of color. | In April, Ho-Shing and other black Parkland students held a press conference to press the media, and their classmates, to direct more attention to the needs and priorities of students of color. |
| For her, having police officers roaming the halls with rifles as a security measure after the shooting was not reassuring, but “unsettling” and “disturbing” as a student concerned about police brutality, Ho-Shing said. And for youth of color facing everyday gun violence carried out with handguns, banning assault rifles, which are used in a tiny percentage of overall gun murders, is not enough. | For her, having police officers roaming the halls with rifles as a security measure after the shooting was not reassuring, but “unsettling” and “disturbing” as a student concerned about police brutality, Ho-Shing said. And for youth of color facing everyday gun violence carried out with handguns, banning assault rifles, which are used in a tiny percentage of overall gun murders, is not enough. |
| Parkland teachers faced an impossible choice: 'Do I hold the door open, or close it?' | |
| Her work to connect with students of color dealing with gun violence in Miami and Chicago has brought Ho-Shing face-to-face with America’s daily gun violence epidemic. A Chicago school she visited in April lost a coach to gun violencein May, and Ho-Shing spoke to the Guardian on her way to Chicago to return to the school to attend a vigil in his honor. | Her work to connect with students of color dealing with gun violence in Miami and Chicago has brought Ho-Shing face-to-face with America’s daily gun violence epidemic. A Chicago school she visited in April lost a coach to gun violencein May, and Ho-Shing spoke to the Guardian on her way to Chicago to return to the school to attend a vigil in his honor. |
| “It’s painful,” she said. “I identify because we lost two coaches at our school. I instantly thought of Coach Feis and Coach Hixon and the influence they had on us as students.” | “It’s painful,” she said. “I identify because we lost two coaches at our school. I instantly thought of Coach Feis and Coach Hixon and the influence they had on us as students.” |
| There have been moments of inspiration as well as grief. Ho-Shing met the former first lady Michelle Obama at a summit in Los Angeles this spring. | There have been moments of inspiration as well as grief. Ho-Shing met the former first lady Michelle Obama at a summit in Los Angeles this spring. |
| “She held our hands and she told us that it’s going to be hard, but she agrees with everything that we’re saying and everything that we’re fighting for,” Ho-Shing said. While “people are going to say negative things about us”, the former first lady warned the 17-year-old activist, “it’s because we’re doing the right thing.” | “She held our hands and she told us that it’s going to be hard, but she agrees with everything that we’re saying and everything that we’re fighting for,” Ho-Shing said. While “people are going to say negative things about us”, the former first lady warned the 17-year-old activist, “it’s because we’re doing the right thing.” |
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| US school shootings | US school shootings |
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