[GVCP] Emma Gonzales Notes + link

February 25, 2018
Dear GVCP member,

Hank Stone has written a powerful letter to support the work of Emma Gonzalez and other students, nationwide, who are demanding serious gun legislation.

Here’s a link to the speech, followed by Hank’s thoughts.

Peace,

Arnie Matlin for GVCP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxD3o-9H1lY


Emma Gonzales Notes
Hank Stone
February 25, 2018


After the school shooting in Parkland, FL that left 17 dead, there were the usual “thoughts and prayers” for the victims, and that was supposed to be the end of it.

But student Emma Gonzales (along with other bright and articulate survivors of the massacre) was having none of it.

She delivered a crystal clear 12-minute speech, in which she made these points:

·        The issue is gun control, not mental health.  The shooter could not have caused such carnage with a knife.
·
       Trump’s presidential campaign was paid $30 million by the National Rifle Association.
·
       The president, the Senate, the House of Representatives, many being paid by the NRA, failed to protect the students, and that is NOT acceptable!
·
       The shooter was known to the other students as troubled and gun-obsessed, and the FBI had been given warnings about him on which the FBI did not act.
·
       The gun control issue is not red state or blue state.  It is a country-wide failure of government.
·
       Almost every American citizen understands that our government is for sale, and 70% want stronger gun laws.
·
       Since the Second Amendment was written, guns have changed, but the law has not.
·
       The adults have failed the country.  It’s time for the students to “be the change” they want to see.
·
       This school shooting will go down in history.  NOT because it was the second-worst, but because IT WILL BE THE LAST!

Since then Emma’s speech has gone viral.  The students have been making TV appearances.  Their case is compelling.  Their voices are clear.  Marches and protests are planned.  Corporations are falling all over themselves to distance themselves from the NRA.

The NRA, and its political supporters, sound increasingly desperate and crazy.

But the students have more than a case against the NRA.  They have loudly and clearly called out that our politicians are for sale.  It’s all over TV.  People can’t un-see it.  The emperor really has no clothes!

The implications go on and on.  If we didn’t have the Citizens United decision, making corporate money into “free speech,” why would we continue to fail to address climate change?

If shooting school children for the profit of gun manufacturers is not OK, why should killing children (and adults) in other countries using drones be OK?

Why do we need endless war?  Why do we need an endless military budget leading to endless war?

Per Bob Dylan:

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.










—— End of Forwarded Message

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