The mass shooting phenomenon has met its maker. The Parkland High School shooting survivors are mad as hell, and they aren’t going to take it anymore! These kids have come together and have organized a grand scale movement to take down the NRA and the politicians that the depraved organization props up! These young people are fearless. What makes them so fearless? They are the generation that does not know life before Columbine or Sandy Hook. They are the ones that we’ve been waiting for. Unapologetic, unafraid, unbossed, and unbought.
There is a distinct difference here with the Parkland Pajama Squad. They are kicking in doors and taking names. They have rallied a nation and are challenging the status quo and the lobbying goliath that has for too long has dominated the political table.
Generation Z is the largest cohort in the generation cycles, larger than millennials and Generation X combined. The GenZ cohort is 25% of the population, and they have already begun voting. Every year a new wave of GenZers will join the ranks of voters. In fact, the movement these kids are creating is already pre-registering 16 years olds in the cohort for automatic voter registration when they turn 18. Electoral politics will get interesting really fast. Most are still in high school and are as young as 13 years old. The future is promising. Generation Z is the most progressive and tolerant cohort to date. In fact, I will go so far as to predict that GenZ will change the political landscape and no party affiliation will be the “new” party, and it will support socialism. We are, I believe, witnessing the death of the GOP and conservatism. In the next twenty years, attrition will have made extinct that Grand Old Party. I hope I live to see it!
In the meantime, we should support student walkouts by understanding that the students have the right to protest without retaliation. If your student participates in a protest and is punished, please contact your local ACLU. Attorneys at the ACLU are on standby to support these brave, young activists.