EP 419 Activism Activated by Tragedy

EP 419 Activism Activated by Tragedy

The young people who survived the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida in 2018 became daily visitors in our home through their articulate expression of grief and the millions they attracted to their cause, which involved the rallying cry of ‘stop killing kids’.  As a nation, we sensed this time would be different.  What other senseless ramages had not accomplished, even the killing of elementary school students at Sandy Hook in Connecticut years earlier, we thought this expression of outrage, by teenagers, might be able to do.  Has it?  Did you even hear a whisper about gun safety in the course of the 2020 election?  Did we let another teaching moment go unadressed?  We turn to Jeff Foster an advanced placement government teacher at Stoneman Douglas High and an advisor to the students as they sought redress. He has just written a book about how our government works and why it matters, called ‘For Which We Stand’.  The content is intended for ages 8-14.  It’s one thing to teach about how government works and another to see how ‘a bill really becomes a law’.  Or why new laws aren’t enacted when the cause seems so just.  It’s a candid conversation with a man in the middle of an American tragedy.


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