As many of you know, a National School Walkout took place today. Students walked out of school for a 17-minute protest in memory of the 17 people who were recently killed at a Florida high school. One of the main purposes of the demonstrations was to protest gun violence in our country. Some parents fought against the walkouts and blocked their kids from participating. I am not one of those parents. I am proud of the students who made their voices heard today. I fully support them. I have no problem with kids (or anyone for that matter) participating in peaceful protests.
Last night, I mentioned to my kids that it would be fine for them to participate in any peaceful walkouts today at school. They just needed to be prepared to take any negative consequences that might arise as a result of doing so. Fortunately, both of my sons’ schools (like many New York City schools) ended up taking part in the walkout in an organized and supportive manner.
It has been interesting to see the various reactions of parents on social media about this topic leading up to today. As in most things that are matters of opinion, I think that each family should do what most closely falls in line with the things that their family values. What I don’t like is this either-or mentality in regards to how kids should protest. Several people are saying things like, “Why don’t the kids step up and do 17 acts of kindness towards other students instead of walking out and protesting?” My question is, “Why does it have to be either-or?” Are we not teaching our kids to step up and be kind to others every day? If not, that’s part of the problem.
Instead of criticizing the protesting students, I think that we adults need to be humble and apologetic towards them. We (collectively) are the ones who have put them in this fearful situation. Ultimately, the people who do the shootings are responsible for their actions. However, we have not helped prevent their actions in several meaningful ways.
1. In many school shooting cases, there has been a breakdown in the home situation of the shooters. Please note that I wrote “some” cases. I don’t automatically blame parents for their kids’ actions. I have definitely witnessed my kids saying and doing things that they had never heard or seen at home and I wondered (aloud) “Who raised you?!”
2. At other times, there has been a breakdown in the community. It really does take “a village” to raise a child well. Often times (not every time), it turns out that multiple people knew that the eventual shooters were having emotional and social challenges before they acted out in violent ways. Yet, few stepped in and helped them in meaningful ways.
3. Lastly, it is our fault because there has been a breakdown in political representatives serving the interests of their constituents. We have not walked to the voting booths and voted out politicians who are more indebted to powerful gun lobbyist groups than to the communities that they were voted to represent. There are candidates from all sides of the political aisle who are indebted to the NRA specifically. For me, this isn’t a political party or even a gun rights issue. Responsible gun owners should be able to keep their “made for civilian use” style guns in my opinion. The issue is that from the vast majority of accounts (both conservative and liberal-leaning polling), the majority of Americans support stricter gun control laws. It’s time to vote for those who represent their constituents instead of their financial backers first and foremost.
In essence, the kids are stepping up and stepping out because we as a society have failed to do so. I can’t get upset and punish my children if they decide to proactively do something about it. Besides, for those who were so concerned about the walkout disrupting the school day, it takes much more than 17 minutes to practice the soft lockdown and hard lockdown drills which many schools are now required to do each year as school safety measures due to recurring traumatic school events in our country. Just a thought…