Page 14 - Florida Sentinel 3-30-18

March For Our Lives
Florida’s Black Student Voices Missing In D. C. Rally
Fred Hearns in Washington, D. C. last Saturday.
(Special to the Florida Sentinel-Bulletin)
WASHINGTON, D. C. — They spoke for nearly three hours Satur- day, March 24 at the March For Our Lives Rally in the shadow of the na- tion’s capital in Washington, D. C. An estimated 800,000 people of all ages came to show their support for the movement sparked by the student survivors of the February 14 massacre at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida.
The speakers – chosen by the young organizers from just outside of Ft. Lauderdale — ranged in age from eleven to nineteen years old. They came from cities that are no strangers to gun violence: Parkland, Florida; Montgomery County, Maryland; Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Brook- lyn, Atlanta (Yolanda Renee King — granddaughter of Rev. Dr. Mar- tin and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, Jr.) and Newtown, Conn.
The youth on program were male,
female, straight, gay, White, Black and Hispanic. They came from the tough streets of South Central, from the plush suburbs of Florida’s Gold Coast and from hundreds of neigh- borhoods in between.
Yet in spite of all this diversity there was something missing from one of the largest gatherings that ever assembled in this city. With 200 Dou- glas High School students sitting on the stage, not one African American was included as a speaker.
Black students make up about 12% of the student body at the high school, or more than 300 African Americans. Whites are about 60% and Hispanics comprise another 20% of the student body of more than 3,000.
One African American female barely avoided being shot by gunman Nikolas Cruz on Valentine’s Day (she was scarred by bullet fragments). Of all Parkland students I’ve seen being interviewed, she is perhaps the most articulate. Yet, she did not speak at the rally in Washington and she has not been featured on magazine covers, in national newspaper stories or in “60 Minutes” television promo- tional print ads as were her White and Hispanic #NeverAgain counter- parts.
Why?
No one should benefit personally
from Cruz’s horrible crime. And we don’t think Emma Gonzalez, Alex Wind, David Hogg, Cameron Corin, Jaclyn Corin or any other Parkland students are seeking indi- vidual gain or fame for their work. But famous they are rapidly becom- ing. And even if they devote the rest of their lives to fighting for weapons reform without earning a red cent doing it, or having any more special doors opened for them through the years in Tallahassee, Florida or in Washington, D. C., it’s a fact that the world knows their names. The major media markets are seeing to that daily.
You may also have seen the well- spoken African American student I referred to earlier doing an interview on national television. But now I can’t
find her name or see her face anywhere. If you know who she is, can you let me know?
And if the White and
Hispanic students can’t see it for themselves, maybe a parent or a teacher at Douglas High School will tell the “Parkland Five” that they should become the “Parkland Six” by including a Black student in their inner circle before they hold another large meeting.
Several African American speak- ers from other towns across the na- tion pointed out at the rally in D. C. that their communities have been hit especially hard by gun violence for decades. Parkland students, make your message one that includes the 12% of your student body that is not now represented in your leadership. BLACK LIVES MATTER too, you know!
(Fred Hearns, manager of United Way Suncoast and Hillsbor- ough County’s Community and Law Enforcement Workshops & Services Program, represented CLEWS at the March for Our Lives Rally in Wash- ington D. C., March 24, 2018).
PAGE 2-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2018