I hesitate to link the events of my weekend because one moved my heart, the other moved the contents of my stomach. For me, the brave young faces of tomorrow outshone the dark underbelly of America’s voyeurism. I spent my Saturday in the calm of the United States Capitol obliged to the compassionate speeches and parental tears of a momentous day. I spent my Sunday evening with a sense of obligation to those who may look forward to my opinions on the Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump affair. Honestly after hearing the amplified voices of the shooting survivors and being fortunate enough to interview a few of them. I am choosing to write about what moved my heart.
I am a native Washingtonian and grew up in the shadow of monuments dedicated to some great and not so great men and women. I am old enough to have lived through and participated in four of the most significant events of protest and triumph in the city’s history. The righteous rages against violence, discrimination and poverty, evidenced in the 1963 March on Washington, The Million Man March of 1995, The Inaugural of Barack Obama in 2009, and Saturday’s March for Our Lives are part of my DNA. These moments in history were probably the largest gatherings in Washington, DC of their kind.
A lot was made of the young spirits of change that permeated the front lawn of the Capitol and the streets to the east and south of its’ dome. The future of America has always been its saving grace. People forget the dreamy words of Martin Luther King Jr. were delivered when he was just 34 years old. In that spirit were two young voices that made a perfect day even brighter, Miss Naomi Wadler an 11-year-old from Alexandra, Virginia and 9-year old Miss Yolanda Renee King, the granddaughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who implored the crowd echoing the words of her granddad, dreaming of, ‘enough is enough.’
I had a short talk with 17-year-old Suzanna Barna who is one of the more vocal student voices speaking for her dead classmates. Lest you think she is throwing herself into the public spotlight on a twist of horrid fate, Ms. Barna has long been an advocate for the rights of the abused, misused and the forgotten.
In the weeks and months prior to the massacre, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Barna recruited and led dozens of her classmates on volunteer missions at a local elder care facility. Her brush with local celebrity was forever marred on February 14, 2018, just 5 days after a story ran about her efforts in Florida’s Aston Gardens Senior Living Center. Her passion and heart are now with her fallen and living classmates. When I asked about her fears of gun violence she simply stated, “that our country can’t stand for that anymore.”
One of the first signs of movement and change are words that demonstrate inclusiveness. Barna repeatedly talked about ‘our country’ and the plight of big and little cities that was all-encompassing of black and brown peoples. Those same feelings were echoed by David Hogg, who probably along with Emma González, is one of the most recognizable faces for something different. Hogg called Saturday’s event the “beginning of a revolution” that will take the participation of ‘every American…’ The students were quick to disavow any political party affiliations mainly because they do not want grown-ups to mess it up.
I have cried twice on the Mall grounds that cover the span between the Capitol and the Washington Monument. The first time was for an event I thought I would not live long enough to see, the Inauguration of the first Black President of the United States and Saturday standing in stillness for six minutes and twenty seconds.
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