Three students who survived the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last week sent a message to politicians in Washington, D.C., on Sunday: “You’re either with us or against us.”
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Cameron Kasky, one of five students from the Parkland, Fla., school where 17 people were killed Wednesday, said the students are organizing a march to call on Congress to take action on gun control on March 24.
“My message for the people in office is, you’re either with us or against us. We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around and we have received endless support from your generation and we thank everybody for that immensely because we really appreciate it,” Kasky said.
“We don’t need you. On March 24th, you are going to be seeing students in every single major city marching and we have our lives on the line here and at the end of the day that is going to be what’s bringing us to victory and to making some sort of right out of this tragedy.”
A lone gunman shot and killed 17 people and injured others in the shooting at the high school Wednesday. He’s facing murder charges and is currently being held without bail.
The students from that school have spoken forcefully about gun control in the days since and student Emma Gonzales said it is a movement that won’t end after a few days.
“We are quite at that point where we have worked long hard hours to make sure that this goes forward the way that we want it to and stays strong the way that we’re staying strong and the way that the people around us need us to be,” she said. “That’s how we’re going to be facing this. We’re going to be facing this with trepidation and determination and we have an incredible support system around us and we are going to be the difference.”
Student David Hogg said politicians who don’t take action on gun control should pay for their inaction with their jobs.
“I hope that the American public takes action. We’ve sat around for too long being inactive in our political climate and as a result children have die,” he said. “It’s time for us to stand up and take action and hold our elected officials responsible. If our elected officials are not willing to stand up and say I’m not going to take money from the NRA because children are dying they shouldn’t be in office and this is the change we need.”
