Emma Gonzalez

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 24^th 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 😘