The Righteous Anger of the Parkland Shooting’s Teen Survivors

Something was different about the mass shooting this week in Parkland, Florida, in which 14 students and three adults were killed.It was not only the death toll. The mass murder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High became the deadliest high-school shooting in American history (edging out Columbine, which killed 13 in 1999).What made Parkland different were the people who stepped forward to describe it. High-school students—the survivors of the calamity themselves—became the voice of the tragedy. Tweets that were widely reported as coming from the students expressed grief for the victims, pushed against false reports, and demanded accountability.

On television, on social media, they were unignorable. Many of them called for legislation to address the violence.“We are children. You guys are the adults. Work together, come over your politics, and get something done,” David Hogg, a student who survived the killing, told CNN.