Parkland

Parkland

Adult nonfiction IT
"'I'm going to be the next school shooter of 2018,' he said in
another segment. 'My goal is at least twenty people with an
AR-15...Location is Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida...Here's the
plan: I'm going to take an Uber in the afternoon before 2:40 p.m.
From there, I'll go into the school campus, walk up the stairs, load
my bags and get my AR and shoot people down at...the main courtyard
and people will die.'"
The gunman entered his target Florida high school and opened
fire, killing seventeen people, mostly students. Each of them had
family and friends who would be devastated by the loss. Students hid
for hours wherever they could find shelter, sent what they thought
could be final messages to loved ones, and feared that the rampaging
killer would find them and end their lives. Terrified parents hurried
to the scene.
The Valentines Day Parkland shooting had a lot in common with
the mass shootings that are becoming much too common. A group of
students decided that they were going to fight back so others wouldn't
lose their lives or go through the trauma they had survived. Their
goal became to change this nation's gun laws so that other deranged
individuals wouldn't be able to get their hands on those lethal
weapons. They weren't going to settle for the "thoughts and prayers"
of politicians; they wanted action.
Dave Cullen had written the New York Times bestseller
Columbine. After ten years of researching and writing that book he
vowed never again. However nineteen years later, years during which,
cowed by the NRA, legislators failed to create laws that might have
prevented it, he found himself covering the Parkland shooting.
"Parkland changed everything--for the survivors, for the nation,
and definitely for me. I flew down the first weekend, but not to
depict the carnage or the grief. What drove me was the group of
extraordinary kids. I wanted to cover their response. There are
strains of sadness woven into this story, but this is not an account
of grief. These kids chose a story of hope."
Cullen got to really know the student leaders who created March
For Our Lives and their families. He takes readers behind the scenes
from the first march and walk out through the summer long national bus
tour and the midterm elections. This poignant and perceptive volume
is a must read for anyone who wants the litany of school shootings to
end. A solution is possible and we need to all be part of it.
On a purrrsonal note, I was vice chair on the Veazie School Committee
when we worked on making our school more shooter proof. I recall
looking at the chair who had very young children in the school. His
usually calm face was showing a stunned fear. The discussion was
reminding us all the next tragedy might not be somewhere else. We
need to be a nation where our kids don't have to be afraid to go to
school and we don't have to be afraid to send them.
A great big shout out goes out to all the fine folks working to get us
there.
jules hathaway


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