The media sure has a way of ostracizing people of color and according to Black students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, their voices have been ignored.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Black students are speaking out and want to be included in the dominating public conversation of gun control.
“The Black Lives Matter movement has been addressing (gun violence) since the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012, yet we have never seen this kind of support for our cause and we surely do not feel the lives or voices of minorities are valued as much as those of our white counterpart,” Tyah-Amoy Roberts, Douglas High student told reporters, WPEC-TV reported.
Students of color congregated in Parkland, FL on Wednesday to let their voices be heard about the under representation in the media and being overlooked by fellow white peers in wake of 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz murdering their classmates. “About 8 media organizations covered this press conference– most of them local,” Nadege Green a WLRN reporter tweeted.
About 8 media organizations covered this press conference– most of them local. One student said the school's black students are not being represented. She peered into the news cameras and said, "Well here we are. Do you see us?" #MSDStrong @wlrn
— Nadege Green (@NadegeGreen) March 28, 2018
17-year-old Parkland student Kai Koerber said, “It’s bad enough we have to return with clear backpacks…Should we also return with our hands up?” He fears police will racially typecast students of color and treat them as “potential criminals”.
School board member Rev. Rosalind Osgood said Koerber’s comments need to be heard. “I don’t want the minority kids to be angry and feel that they’re being ignored.. I don’t think anybody’s intentionally excluding them, but nobody’s intentionally including them either.”
People on Twitter agreed with the Black students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas.
Putting more armed police in schools will make some people feel safe, and some people feel infinitely less safe. https://t.co/cFet8aDutN
— Jane Coaston (@cjane87) March 29, 2018
black parkland students speaking out and calling the bullshit we've been calling
— 🙌🏿 (@DrTruth247) March 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/KMichaelC2000/status/979728018733256704
Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High is 25% students of color.
We've barely seen any students of color given the time of day from Media. (e.g. The TIME cover had 5 white students, 0 students of color)
These courageous girls are speaking up. We should listen. #MSDStrong https://t.co/7uUToEEk8h
— Qasim Rashid for Congress (@QasimRashid) March 29, 2018
Over 3,000 students attend the high school, eleven percent are Black.
