Since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre, our nation’s gun violence epidemic has proven to extend far beyond our nation’s schools.
In the past week, we reported on the shootings of two black men by police. So while an increased police presence might make some students feel safer, a group of black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas don’t necessarily feel the same way, and they’re making sure that the issue of police violence doesn’t get lost by the wayside in the nation’s gun violence debate.
It’s worth noting that about 11 percent of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas student body is black. A group of those students organized a press conference on Wednesday, as they felt they and their black peers have been overlooked in the coverage of the tragedy, and that their specific plight had not been taken into account. As The Root (via the Miami Herald) reports, one black student, 17-year-old Kai Koerber, said that more cops on campus only meant more people who could treat students, particularly black students, as well as students of color in general, as “potential criminals.” Mind you, these students aren’t trying to undermine the efforts of their white classmates. These youngsters are simply aiming for a more inclusive conversation about gun violence, so that it includes the issue of police violence.
