[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             SHARING STUDENTS' MARCH FOR OUR LIVES REMARKS

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                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 21, 2018

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, on May 9, I came to the Floor and spoke about 
the March For Our Lives on March 24 and the nine extraordinarily poised 
students in Morristown, New Jersey, who spoke at the rally there, which 
I attended. I include in the Record remarks by Luna Aguilar. I hope my 
colleagues will read them and internalize the sense of fear in which 
our nation's students are living every day--and our responsibility as 
Members of Congress to do something to address this crisis of gun 
violence.

              March For Our Lives Remarks by Luna Aguilar

       Every month, every week, every day we hear about a hate-
     filled person, usually a white-supremacist man, getting a gun 
     to kill others without mercy. We are here today because the 
     shooting at Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida hurts all 
     of us, and we will not take this anymore!
       The students who were murdered in Florida, and many more 
     who are killed by gun violence throughout our country, had 
     dreams to fulfill in the rest of their lives. They were 
     robbed of their dreams because our country allows nineteen-
     year-olds to legally own weapons of destruction, and we let 
     one man kill seventeen innocent lives. Teachers and faculty 
     at schools across the country have given up their lives to 
     protect their students from mass murderers, and now that is 
     their legacy. But they should not have to be mourned as 
     martyrs. They should be remembered as teachers, heroes who 
     educated the future generation.
       We, as a nation, have decided that we value gun ownership 
     without adequate background checks, without limits, more than 
     the lives of our youth. But we, the youth, the future of our 
     country, are deciding, right here, right now, that our lives 
     are worth more than the right to own an assault weapon.
       This same outrage should have pushed a change of policy on 
     guns after Columbine, Sandy Hook, Orlando, and Las Vegas. 
     This outrage should have supported the victims of excessive 
     police force in Ferguson. Stephon Clark was shot twenty times 
     in his grandmother's yard while unarmed just two days ago. 
     Are we speaking up for him too? This outrage should be heard 
     in response to the deaths of immigrants at the hands of 
     border patrol agents. African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, 
     members of the LGBTQIA community are all subject to gun 
     violence in our neighborhoods, and we must speak up for them 
     too. This will not be an exclusive fight. We are targeted 
     because of the color of our skin, because of our religion, 
     because of who we are. Undocumented immigrants already fear 
     having their families torn apart by ICE, and they also fear 
     of dying at the hands of an extremist. Marginalized women 
     also fear for their lives. We will not live in fear any 
     longer!
       We must not succumb to fear and make our schools into 
     prison-like settings. We cannot arm our teachers. We cannot 
     fill our schools with officers that feed the school to prison 
     pipeline! More guns and more oppression is not the answer. I 
     am trained in Alternatives to Violence. This is an 
     international program that started right here in New York 
     state prisons to address violence in a compassionate way. In 
     our youth program with Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource 
     Center, we learn nonviolent communication and restorative 
     justice. If we taught this in our schools, and in our 
     communities, we would increase the level of safety for 
     everyone. If we had more social workers in our schools, we 
     would be healthier, safer. We should invest our resources 
     into the well-being of students so no one ever feels the need 
     to hurt others. We need social workers, not police. Why are 
     we as a nation so violent, so hateful? Restorative justice is 
     proven to work, and we are more than capable of implementing 
     this into our school systems.
       Other countries have one occurrence of gun violence, and 
     they act on it immediately. Thoughts and prayers are welcome 
     in these devastating times, but they must be followed by 
     action, legislation, and prevention measures. Why has our 
     government refused to act? AR-15s should not be in the hands 
     of any civilian in this country. Congress needs to ban these 
     machines that serve no other purpose than to kill as many 
     individuals as possible within a matter of seconds. Our 
     nation must raise the age of owning a gun to twenty-one. 
     Thorough background checks that bar individuals with a 
     violent history, particularly those with domestic violence 
     histories, must be part of the process of owning a gun. We 
     must enforce red-flag laws, laws that allow for the removal 
     of weapons from people who have been flagged for past 
     violence.
       I've been to marches to support undocumented immigrants. I 
     participated in the vigil for Heather Heyer, who was murdered 
     during the Charlottesville protests. I've been to the Women's 
     March to fight against sexism and to stand up with my fellow 
     sisters of all backgrounds. I stand here today denouncing gun 
     violence because marching and demanding change works! We are 
     a youth-led movement and we will not stop until we succeed in 
     keeping guns out of the hands of murderers.
       I am only sixteen, and I am already tired of standing up 
     for what is right while legislators sit and do nothing! When 
     will it be enough? Why must I continue to scream at Congress 
     and at our society to prove that I matter? Why are 
     legislators responding to the gun lobby instead of us? What 
     will it take for us to see each other as human beings that 
     are worth more than property or profits? This march is just 
     the beginning of long-overdue conversations, and of work too 
     long left undone. We must continue to fight, and to fight for 
     everyone.
       We must speak out. Say it with me so that our legislators 
     in our towns, in Trenton, and in Washington, DC, hear our 
     call: I'm going to say: shatter the silence. And you respond 
     with: stop the violence. Shatter the silence. Stop the 
     violence. Shatter the silence.

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