I am usually all for
honesty; I wrote this piece for one the blogs I feature in, but apparently it
couldn’t fly because it didn’t centre on an African, (which is good, we got to
celebrate Africa).
‘No worries', I said to
myself, 'I wrote it, Emma Gonzalez inspires me, so, ama share it here'…
While valentine’s
festivities for the year was in the air, students of Majory Stoneman Douglas
High School in Florida were experiencing the most memorable days of their
youthful lives; a fellow student of the above named school went on a rage and
killed seventeen people. Seventeen lives were lost because one unstable person
had his hands on a weapon of destruction. This event is not just a traumatic
one for those involved, but more of an uproar; come on, its rational for anyone
in this situation to be livid.
Having seen clips of the
incident, watched the town hall meeting aired by CNN, read tributes, speeches,
and the ever trending hashtags #WeCallBS #NotAgain, it’s amazing and very
endearing to see that these students are not grieving in silence, they have
started a movement that many are forced to support.
BellaNaija recently had a
quote from Oby Ezekwesili:
‘Don’t
be voiceless when you have had the privilege of being educated
You
can only become voiceless by choice.
You
must not make that choice’.
Listening to Emma Gonzalez
repeatedly saying (although I'll paraphrase) just illustrates the quote:
‘I
thank my teachers and school for giving me the education to be able to write
such a speech, without them I won’t have had the opportunity nor platform to
write such a speech’
‘Those
kids in Sandy Hook Elementary School were young and many of them didn’t make it
out alive to tell their tale, and we are thankful enough to be alive and have
the opportunity to handle this situation better’
‘Yes,
the shooter is mentally ill, but the issue isn’t his illness but what can be
done to prevent these death tolls/PTSD cases from reoccurring.’
The campaign has actively begun
#MarchForOurLives which would hold on March 24th at Washington, they
encouraged those that cannot be physically there to march in their own little
community.
I believe this is a charge
for many young people to rise and unite against the numerous ills of our
society, more importantly, we don’t have to wait until it happens to one of
ours before we raise our voices. The March doesn’t even have to be against ‘Gun
Control’, yours may be against ‘Brutal Killings’, ‘Against Kidnappings’ it may
be against ‘Oppression’, once it’s an ill, speak up. These voices are very
powerful once there is unity, like Oby said, you must not make the choice to be
voiceless!
Emma Gonzalez is an
inspiration, her (and others who are voices) strength and courage is amazing,
yes, they are young, but they are not just self-involved, yes, they are young,
but their voices are being heard because of their determination not be silent.
With love,
TheInspiredCutiee 😘
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