Get out and vote. If you can't vote, then register other people to vote. Get people to the polls; make sure that people who need to vote can vote.
Interpretation
Participating in the electoral process is crucial, and encouraging others to do the same boosts democracy.
Emma Gonzalez emphasizes the importance of civic engagement through voting. Her quote highlights that not only should individuals make their voices heard by voting, but they should also support and assist others in the voting process to ensure broader participation, which is vital for a healthy democracy.
In practice
Inspiring high school students during a civic engagement workshop.
What matters is that the majority of American people have become complacent in a senseless injustice that occurs all around them. What matters is that most American politicians have become more easily swayed by money than by the people who voted them into office.
Mental illness and gun violence are not directly correlated, but when the two go hand in hand, Americans - often children - lose their lives.
If I'm able to communicate one thing to adults, it would be this: it should not be easier to purchase a gun than it is to obtain a driver's license, and military-grade weapons should not be accessible in civilian settings.
In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us. Fifteen were injured. And everyone - absolutely everyone - in the Douglas Community was forever altered.
You might not be a big fan of politics, but you can still participate. All you need to do is vote for people you believe will work on these issues, and if they don't work the way they should, then it is your responsibility to call them, organize a town hall, and demand that they show up - hold them accountable.
If you want to help arm the schools, arm them with school supplies, books, therapists - things they actually need and can make use of.
Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies... for what we are doing is right, what we are doing is just -- and God is with us.
To be a hero or a heroine, one must give an order to oneself.
I had crossed de line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but dere was no one to welcome me to de land of freedom, I was a stranger in a strange land.
If the society today allows wrongs to go unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority.
I am not sorry. I will never be sorry. I would do everything I did again if I had to. Everything.
What is required to face trauma is the ability to mourn, fully and deeply, all that has been taken from us. Only through mourning everything we have lost can we discover that we have in fact survived; that our spirits are indestructible.
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