While tens of thousands participated in a March for our Lives demonstration in Parkland, Fla., Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump played a round of golf. The distance between the two locations is 50 miles.
The night before, President Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending bill, none of which went to curb the use of weapons such as that used to mow down the 17 students and staff at the Parkland high school last month.
At Saturdays march in Kansas City, Mayor Sly James addressed the 5,000-strong crowd, saying, I have never been more proud of the people of Kansas City as I am today, and urged the crowd of young and old alike to carry their energy beyond the day by becoming politically active.
Mayor James likened Saturdays demonstration to when he was young and protested the Vietnam War.
We did it then. We can do it today, he said.
The biggest demonstration Saturday was in our nations capital where an estimated 200,000 marched in protest of violence by guns. Again, most of our countrys leaders had left the scene for their spring break.
The irony is not lost that students all across the country used the annual break to go to great length to send a message to lawmakers the majority beholden to the NRA who had fled the scene. A poll conducted by Fox News last week showed vast majorities of Americans want Congress to address specific measures concerning gun control including raising the age to own a gun from 18 to 21 and requiring criminal and mental health background checks.
Mayor James said the only way to break the disconnect between what citizens want and what their legislators are willing to do is to vote them out of office.
HOPEFULLY, one outcome from this movement is to spur U.S. citizens to exercise their rights to vote.
Only about half of eligible citizens are registered to vote in the United States. Of those registered, only 55 percent voted in the 2016 election. So thats 75 percent of eligible voters sitting on the sidelines.
The U.S. ranks 28th of democracies in voter registration, in part because its left up to the individual to follow through. Many countries take the initiative to register voters when they become eligible, whereas in the U.S. we have elected officials who discriminate against would-be voters most notably, Kansass Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
TODAYS TEENS, especially, are frustrated with what they view as adults apathetic stance to violence by guns.
I learned how to duck gun bullets, before I learned how to read, said Edna Chavez, a student at a march in Los Angeles.
Thank you students, for telling us it how it is, and how youve had ENOUGH.
Susan Lynn
