'Not a statistic': Students walk out of Colorado shooting vigil to condemn politics and press

[MadDAsHell]

Source: Washington Post

A vigil commemorating the victims of the STEM School shooting in Colorado ended in protest Wednesday evening after students said they refused to be used as pawns to promote gun control.

Hundreds attended the vigil — students, teachers, activists and elected officials — to honor Kendrick Castillo, the 18-year-old who was fatally shot on Tuesday. But Castillo’s classmates were moved to protest after invitees Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) spoke. Many of the teenagers perceived the speeches as politicians politicizing their trauma when they wanted their own voices heard.

Students stood and stormed out. Some clapped and united in chants, deriding what they saw as a “political stunt.” The school parking lot quickly filled with teenagers, cursing at the press and holding backlit cellphones in the air. "What happened at STEM is awful, but it’s not a statistic. We can’t be used for a reason for gun control. We are people, not a statement,” said one student wearing a yellow Spartans shirt. Another teenager voiced similar frustrations, saying: “I thought this was about us, not about politics.”

The gathering at Denver’s Highlands Ranch High School, one of several held Wednesday, was organized by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Read more: https://beta.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/09/not-statistic-students-walk-out-colorado-shooting-vigil-condemn-politics-press/?outputType=amp

[Grokenstein]

1. "We can't be used for a reason for gun control."

You never want to knock survivors of a mass shooting.
But here we are.

Politics ARE about you, kids.
Politics affect you every moment of the day, whether you acknowledge this or not.
But politics are about MORE than you.

Politics will determine if this just keeps on happening to others,
or,
if someone finally puts some sort of stop to it.

I hope those of you who walked out come to realize that, but in the meantime, those who want the madness to stop will continue fighting to that end, even if it's just "politics."

[DeminPennswoods]

2. Not sure what they expected from an event

organized by the Brady Campaign, a known and vocal advocacy group for gun control.

[3Hotdogs]

4. I think they wanted a memorial and reflection, not something where politicians would speak.

So they didn't read the announcement. If it was me at the school, that's what I would have wanted.

Some may also have been reacting to an anticipated thoughts and prayers event.

[sarisataka]

7. I read a different article

(USA Today? ) that indicated the flyers for the event listed a student group as the organizers. People were not aware of Brady's involvement until the event began.

[ripcord]

10. They expected it to be a memorial and not a political photo op

They expected that at a memorial some students would be allowed to speak. In short they expected the memorial to be about them and their loss rather than lumping them into a national issue. The Brady campaign and others who organized this memorial were totally tone deaf, the students are grieving their loss and any memorial at this point, especially the first one, should have been focused on comfort and healing rather than politics.

[Locrian]

11. exactly - that's what I took it as

there's still a time and place for this to be discussed. Especially with the "talk is cheap" inaction over the last decades.

[Maggiemayhem]

3. What do they expect?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. It sounds like they expected this to be a memorial where they could mourn and remember, not

something where people would start talking about actions to take.

[machoneman]

5. Was the NRA behind this stunt? Anyone know it they flashed the gun-toting parents and kids?

I'll bet the hand of the NRA was present. No doubt about it!

[sarisataka]

8. The Brady campaign was behind this stunt

And their statement is included later in the article.

Do you suppose the NRA has infiltrated the Brady Campaign?

[Coventina]

9. Cutting off one's nose.....

Dumb kids.