walking out and up: ApR. 9th-23rd

Hi Teens Resisters! What an exciting week it has been. We're here to debrief on the cool stuff, the dense stuff, and everything in between.

Given that this has been such a big week, we're only including two longer briefings BUT before you jump into that please read the red below.

URGENT ACTION: Hey! Remember Net Neutrality? Well Congress is ABOUT to vote on it. PLEASE read and use our Net Neutrality Article... and if you don't know why, even more reason to check it out! Click here.

What went down:

National Walkout Day, and an update on gun violence: Last Friday, April 20th, there was a national full-day school walkout against gun violence. It was held on the anniversary of the 1999 Columbine massacre, the first mass school shooting in the US. Students across the nation left class that day and didn’t return until Monday morning. The National Walkout was entirely student-organized, and originated from 16-year-old Lane Murdock, a student from Connecticut. 
The the day was chock-full of various events across the nation. In New York City, a rally with over 5,000 attendants was held in Washington Square Park featuring various speakers. In Parkland, teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS protested before first period, while students from Stoneman made and signed a banner that was to be sent to Columbine. Students in Washington D.C. protested before the White House, students in Missouri rallied in downtown St. Louis, and students in LA marched to their city hall and rallied there.
However, not all of the day was optimistic. The morning of 4/20, a student at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, was shot in the ankle, followed by the alleged shooter’s immediate arrest. In response to this, Sofie Whitney, Parkland shooting survivor and member of March for Our Lives, tweeted, “On the day of the #NationalSchoolWalkout to protest gun violence, there was a shooting at Forest High School in Ocala, not too far from us. This is why we walked out. It keeps happening.”
Not only that, but on Sunday morning, a man walked into a Waffle House in Tennessee and killed four people with an AR-15 assault rifle. Concerns of the attack being a hate crime have risen, considering that all four victims were people of color.
What you can do:

1. Read the Teens Resist article “Some Things You Should Know About Gun Control” and act, act, act!
2. Call your representatives and ask for a federal ban of assault weapons in congress.
   NUMBER: 202-224-3121. Script: Hi. My name is _______ and I’m calling because I care passionately about making the United States a secure and safe place to live, and I think [name of rep] should, too. I demand that they fight for a permanent federal ban of assault weapons today. Assault weapons are the most popular choice for gunmen in mass terror shootings in the US today; they were designed for the military, and should not be in the hands of individual civilians. I hope that [rep name] will take my concerns to heart, protect their people, and fight for a federal ban of assault weapons today. Thank you.
3. Check out this list for ways to combat hate crimes.​

The crowd at Manhattan's Washington Square Park

The victims of the shooting at a TN Waffle House. Their names were Joe R. Perez, DeEbony Groves, Taurean C. Sanderlin, and Akilah Dasilva.

What's up with North Korea? Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about Trump, North Korea, and potential future peace talks. It can sometimes get confusing to figure out what is going on, but it is especially important now to understand what the situation is between the countries and how a possible mending of relations will affect them. Equally important to understand is how Trump is misconstruing and exaggerating his successes in negotiating a deal with North Korea.

Right now, the US’s primary goal is for North Korea to denuclearize (remove their nuclear weapons). North Korea has recently become a lot more willing to communicate with both the US and South Korea. This Friday, Kim Jong-un plans to meet with South Korea’s leader. A potential meeting with the US president (the first ever between leaders of these two countries) could happen in May or June.  It seems that North Korea’s leader is willing to trade nuclear and missile testing for a more stable place in the world and its economy.

However, North Korea has in the past promised denuclearization and then reversed its intentions.  And the country has reached out to the US time and time again asking for an official meeting, as this would legitimize North Korea’s place in the world. Many believe that by granting Kim Jong-un a meeting, Trump has given North Korea the upper hand and made concessions. Additionally, to give North Korea footing in the world would be to give an oppressive dictatorship footing. North Korea and Kim Jong-un are known for their inhumane treatment of citizens, including limiting freedom of thought and speech, and being incredibly violent towards their people.

Trump, of course, insists on bragging about his non-victory, but don’t be fooled.

This isn’t so much of a “what can I do?” type-thing, but rather a briefing of some really important news!! Hopefully it helped you understand a little better what’s going down (and what isn’t going down).  If you’re interested, read more about another teen’s opinion on Highly Indy or read this more in-depth analysis!
Make sure to be spreading the word about this. And reach out with any questions!

 Video of the Week: In honor of a belated Earth Day, here is a cute polar bear video (love them, save them): ​www.youtube.com/watch?v=spx-0FrsLKQ

ALSO: If you're in New York, be sure to come to the teen oriented meeting of Voices 4, an organization that works to protect queer people around the world from oppression. It's on Wednesday at 8pm in the East Village. Click here for more.