The teenagers who survived a school shooting in February at a Florida high school that killed 17 people have been the focus of national media attention, including some making the list of Time magazine’s annual World’s 100 Most Influential People.
And the Parkland, Florida teens are promoting the second National School Walkout taking place across the country on Friday. But the anti-gun, anti-Trump walkout is the brainchild of Lane Murdock, a high school sophomore in Connecticut.
“It is not conservative or liberal,” Murdock, 16, said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR). “It is just about making sure our children don’t get harmed in school and we don’t live in a community and in a country that has institutionalized fear.”
“I think we’re all sick of it,” Murdock said. “That’s why we’re doing this.”
We have grown up waiting for change. Now this generation will work for it and demand it . A role we should have never had to take. #NationalSchoolWalkout
— Lane Murdock (@lanemurdock2002) April 16, 2018
On the day of the Florida school attack by a former student with a long history of mental health issues and run-ins with law enforcement, Murdock posted a petition on change.org asking people to join her and students at her school on March 14 for a 17-minute school walkout to honor the 17 victims. It has over 250,000 signatures.
But just like the March 24 March for Our Lives event planned by the Parkland teens, the walkout to remember lost friends has been taken over by liberal, adult-led, anti-gun, anti-Trump groups like Indivisible, linked to on the National School Walkout website and cited in NPR’s report.
“These student organizers have gotten help from a national nonprofit called Indivisible, a group that says it aims to ‘fuel’ young people to ‘resist the Trump agenda,’” NPR reported.
And Murdock’s views have evolved since she started the petition.
“She wants people to know that she’s imagining this day to be very different than the March For Our Lives or the 17 minutes of silence on March 14 in honor of the victims in Parkland, Fla.,” NPR reported. “This walkout will last from 10 a.m. through the end of the day.”
“People ask me, like, ‘Why? Why all day?'” Murdock says.
“That’s because ‘this is a topic that deserves more than 17 minutes,'” NPR reported.
The now day-long walkout will include more political activities, including “a call to action” to register voters and writing to elected representatives pressing for gun control.
We are getting ready, are you? And of course I am always rocking the house shoes. #NationalSchoolWalkout pic.twitter.com/GoJDTYvdVm
— Lane Murdock (@lanemurdock2002) April 16, 2018
The latest walkout was planned for the April 20, 1999 anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado where 15 people died, including the two students who perpetrated the attack.
But as Breitbart News reported, Jason E. Glass, superintendent of Jeffco public schools, asked students in his school district to make the anniversary about honoring victims instead of a day of protest:
Given our own shared experiences, the events in Parkland, Florida certainly struck close to our heart. We are quickly approaching April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Though we offer our heartfelt support to Florida, on this date, most of us thoughtfully reflect on our own history. In Jeffco, we have marked this time of year with positive acts – Columbine High School students participate in a day of service, doing volunteer work for a variety of community organizations and the entire district supports Day Without Hate, with events that promote inclusion and acceptance.
While the folks in Florida encouraged a demonstration of unified, national support through student walkouts, I request our schools and students consider honoring the memory of Columbine by following the lead of the Columbine community, which believes firmly in the motto, “A Time to Remember, a Time to Hope.” Coming together, giving back, and having a collective positive impact on our community has been a Jeffco tradition, and I hope we continue that tradition. My hope is if our students and staff feel the need to recognize the anniversary of the Columbine tragedy during the school day, it will be with acts of kindness and service in honor of the memory of those we have lost.
https://twitter.com/lanemurdock2002/status/984455582135578624
According to the walkout website, some 2,500 walkouts across the country have registered.
The mission on the walkout website states:
The National School Walkout is the launch of a forward-looking youth movement that has a strategy, a plan for action, and isn’t going away.
We have a three-part goal:
•Hold elected officials accountable
•Promote solutions to gun violence
•Demystify and engage students in the political system
The walkout is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday local time at each school taking part.
Follow Penny Starr on Twitter
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