Emma Gonzlez Stands On Stage In Total Silence To Remember Parkland Shooting
Emma Gonzá lez ’ h silence spoke as loud since her words on Saturday, because the survivor of last month’ t school shooting in Parkland, Fl, took a prolonged and effective pause while addressing the audience at the Mar For Our Lives move in Washington, D. C.
“ Six minutes and about twenty seconds, ” said the teen whenever she first appeared onstage. “ In the little over six minutes, seventeen of our friends were taken from all of us, 15 were injured, and everybody, absolutely everyone in the Douglas community, has been forever altered. ”
Gonzá lez described the horrific day that the gunman opened fireplace at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Senior high school .
“ For us, lengthy, tearful, chaotic hours in the sizzling afternoon sun were spent not being aware of, ” Gonzá lez said throughout her speech.
“ No one grasped the extent of what experienced happened, ” she added. “ No one could believe that there was bodies in that building waiting to become identified for over a day. No one understood that the people who had gone missing acquired stopped breathing long before any of us acquired even known that a code reddish had been called. No one could understand the devastating aftermath or how long this would reach or where this could go. For those who still can’ capital t comprehend, because they refuse to, I’ lmost all tell you where it went: directly into the ground, six feet deep. ”
Gonzá lez then listed all the victims’ names and talked about matters they would never get to do once again.
When she finished record, the teary-eyed teen stayed quiet. When she finally spoke once again, she revealed that it had been precisely six minutes and 20 mere seconds since she had started the girl speech.
“ Since the time that I turned out here, it has been six minutes plus 20 seconds, ” Gonzá lez said before leaving the phase. “ The shooter has stopped shooting and will soon abandon their rifle, blend in with the students because they escape and walk free to have an hour before arrest. Guard your life, before it’ s somebody else’ s job. ”
Several on social media commended the teen for her bravery:
Gonzá lez, eighteen, has become one of the country’ s i9000 leading voices for gun manage in the last month. She is showcased on the cover of Time magazine this week and on Friday released an essay for Teen Style about how the Oughout. S. needs to stop weapon violence.
In an interview along with HuffPost before the march, Gonzá lez said she had huge hopes for the turnout and has been inspired to talk because she “ kind of realized that the particular learned helplessness is coming to an end . ”
“ There are no effects for us to speak our brain, ” she said. “ The country was built for us to talk about our opinions and to vote our own conscience and to get our views and decisions heard. So , that’ s what we’ re going to do. ”
MODIFICATION : A previous version of the story incorrectly stated that Gonzá lez was silent for 6 minutes and 20 seconds.
