The activism, energy, and leadership from the young at a grassroots level was amazing and wonderful to see.
Now for a little bit of a reality check, sadly: in most places of the United States, it has never been a political liability to be opposed to sensible gun law reform. Until there are political consequences to opposing sensible gun control measures, nothing changes.
And so that means that hopefully it starts being political consequential in November. There were so many people out today looking to help register voters.
Making our way home after camping out in a too-expensive cafe for a couple hours to let the Metro crush die down.
It was fairly exciting in person. The kids were all mostly great. I could have done with fewer pop stars, but whatever. For me the 11-year-old stole the show, but none of them were bad; even the poor girl who threw up halfway through her poem owned it.
Oh, one other comment. When Arianna Grande came on stage, people cheered. When Emma came on stage they SCREAMED. They were not there for the the musical acts.
The couple inches of snow in St. Paul didn’t materialize. There was a bitterly cold wind at the state Capitol, but most everyone was dressed appropriately. This led to a sound I had never heard before: thousands of gloved hands clapping. There were some good speakers that inspired that clapping. Local state-level politicians, including a Republican, spoke acknowledging the need for gun reform laws. There were even four kids from Stoneman Douglas High School that spoke. A freshman girl, through her tears, gave the best speech, which resembled a eulogy for some of her murdered friends.
That’s good to hear, that a local Repub was there in support. This effort will definitely require participation from both sides.
As an aside, when I compare, say, Emma Gonzalez’s speech yesterday to, say, the NRA’s video that imagines a world in which we don’t know her name, I just wonder if in 2022 there won’t be any Republicans left in Congress. I would love that. Unrealistic, I know, but that’s my dream.
You know those crafty millennials. Always orchestrating active shooter situations where a dozen people die so that they can get famous. Like, just go on the Bachelor like a normal person, amirite?
