We Say #Never Again

We Say #Never Again

YA/adult nonfiction
"I do another phone interview. In the background I can hear the
anchor. They update the story--seventeen dead. I had no idea. In my
mind, there were three. Seventeen is an unfathomable number. I
finish the interview and collapse on my front porch in tears. It's
been twelve hours since I left my house for work, and in that time my
whole world has been shattered."
It should have been a Valentines Day like any other for the
students at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School--nothing
beyond cards, stuffed animals, candy, dates, clubs, sports, and
homework. But we all know that in 2018 that wasn't to be. Shortly
before closing time the school went on red alert. A gunman rampaged
through the halls, killing seventeen students and teachers and
injuring others. Other students and family and community members lost
friends, siblings, sons, daughters, students--and a sense of the
school and world as a safe place to be.
Can you imagine being one of the students? You huddle with
classmates, hearing gun shots and screams. Maybe your room will be
the next target. You text friends, frantically trying to see if
they're safe. You text your parents to say you love them in case
you'll never again get to tell them in person. When you finally reach
safety reporters are in your face trying to get the details and quotes
that will help their coverage trump that of other media outlets. Then
two weeks later you return to the place you saw splattered with the
life blood of friends, maybe close ones.
Under those circumstances can you imagine being called on to
objectively report on the tragedy and its aftermath? That's exactly
what the student journalists of the Eagle Eye were called on to do.
This wasn't a one night or week media stand for them. This was their
real life which they understood better than anyone else. The third
issue of their paper was a memorial one, devoted to the profiles of
the lives that were lost and what they meant to loved ones. The final
issue of the school year, Taking A Stand, focussed on gun violence and
activism. The book We Say #Never Again, edited by teachers Melissa
Falkowski (quoted above) and Eric Garner, lets us all read essays by
many of these student journalists. Among those you'll encounter are:
*Carly Novell's Dos and Don'ts for Journalists Covering Tragedies that
contains this advice:
"DON'T forget Parkland or any other community forever changed by
gun violence. We are more significant than a passing news headline.
We are grieving, and our lives will never be the same...Just because
gun violence and shootings are common doesn't mean each event is any
less significant than the last.";
*Christy Ma's thoughts on covering the walkout where she had to
provide content up to journalistic standards while she was feeling the
same emotions of her classmates:
"Reporting on something that held such emotional value and
weight for me was difficult, and would have been difficult for any
journalist, but I'm proud that my friends have been able to pull
through together in order to give the world an example of a school
that won't back down in the midst of tragedy, and will keep pushing
forward to a future of hope.";
and *Sam Grizelj's experiences of the Parkland March For Our Lives
which concludes with:
"The March For Our Lives was an event filled with passion and
determination to finally set things right. It allowed us to speak our
minds on issues that need to be resolved once and for all, and even
though it is now over, the fight for our safety isn't...After all,
this is a fight for our lives, and a search for justice."
Honestly the pieces were all so poignant and powerful that I had
to choose the ones I quoted entirely randomly. If you care about
ending violence in one of the places people most deserve to feel safe
you owe it to yourself to read the book and join in the activism.
On a personal note, Church of Universal Fellowship was one of the the
remote groups that had a march. We gathered together in the church
basement to organize and listen to speeches by our very smart and
articulate middle and high schoolers, walked, carrying signs, to the
UMaine campus, and joined with others to hear speeches in front of
Fogler Library. There were feelings of fear, determination, and
solidarity. It was an amazing experience to be part of.
A great big shout out goes out to all who contributed so generously to
this fine book.
jules hathaway



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