In the two years since a gunman killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, students have rallied together, creating the global movement 'March for Our Lives' to demand gun control.
And now, the youth activists have a documentary called Parkland Rising, executive produced by musician will.i.am and journalist Katie Couric, part of a slate of new media about the February 14, 2018, mass shooting and its aftermath.
"When you're from the community that's been directly affected, it's not that it hits close to home — it hits home," Brendan Duff co-founder of March for Our Lives and a Parkland survivor told Cheddar. "This is our high school. These are our friends and our teachers."
He said the documentary is "representative of the roller coaster that is activism."
Though not a member of the Parkland community, rapper will.i.am. said he was inspired to get involved because of the "countless kids who have experienced this type of violence." He said, "no one is really supporting the youth on their mission to do what is humane."
Voter turnout among 18-to-29-year-olds jumped in the 2018 midterm election, a trend young activists are hoping continues in the 2020 election. Duff, will.i.am, and March for Our Lives activists, in fact, are counting on young people to show up at the polls.
"I don't even want to put it out there that the kids aren't going to show up," the musician said.
Duff agreed and stated, "The more we perpetuate that [narrative that young people don't care about politics] the more it becomes true."
