While students across the country are gearing up to conduct a 17-minute walkout to highlight the seventeen students who were murdered at Parkland High School, other students, including many of my own, are hesitant to demonstrate their activism in that way.
Kristen Graham, a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer, visited with some of our student activists from “Raised Woke” to hear their thoughts and opinions on the matter:
No one disputes that the mass slaughter in a matter of minutes by a teen toting an assault weapon rekindles what has been a bitterly fought and politically divisive national debate in the last two decades. But for this group of Mastery-Shoemaker students, a collection of dynamic, bright high school juniors, the issue is complicated, and a lot of it is about race.
Sullivan, a junior at Mastery Charter School-Shoemaker, is all for activism, but she is like a lot of her classmates: hesitating a little over this particular movement.
Student activism is nothing new and successful social justice movements often used broad coalitions that spanned race and class. Students remarked that the support that Parkland students received was well deserved and noticed that the support and attention for students’ causes around safety should be consistent, regardless of where the students are from.
Students from Raised Woke, a student activist group, noted that they could recall Black Lives Matter members and other Black and Brown activists being shunned when they raised issues about gun violence. Kudos to the Parkland High School activists who noted the same and reached out to some Chicago youth to engage and build together.
You can read the full Inquirer article here.
[…] activism didn’t begin with the Parkland youth, I am still glad to see them join the ranks of students of color who have been on the front lines for as long as anyone can remember. After all, we know that the […]
[…] 8. Don’t Just Pay Attention to the Violence When It Impacts White Students. Our student activists, members of Raised Woke, believe that there are heightened sensitivities to white children experiencing violence that students of color are not afforded. Student activism is nothing new and successful social justice movements often used broad coalitions that spanned race and class. Students remarked that the support that the heroic Parkland students received was well deserved and noticed that the support and attention for students’ causes around safety should be consistent, regardless of where the students are from. […]