WEBVTT - Processing Parkland 0:00:05.280 --> 0:00:08.200 Hey, Brian, Hi Katie. Well, you know, we have actually 0:00:08.200 --> 0:00:12.240 a very serious show today, because while we've talked about 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.280 the dizzey and pace of news, it's sometimes hard to 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.000 process the daily barrage of stories that have been filling 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.520 up our timelines and news feeds. And that's what we 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.520 wanted to do today. We wanted to step back and 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:31.040 give some perspective to a particularly horrific event that happened recently, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.120 and the topic is gun violence. The event is the 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:39.080 shooting at Parkland in Florida. And I'm just heartbroken, as 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.640 I know you are every time you hear about another 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:44.760 mass shooting. That's right, it's like a broken record, sadly, 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.960 and it's happening far too frequently. I know that we're 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.480 all devastated for the families in Parkland, Florida. We're seventeen 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.200 people at Marjorie Stone and Douglas High School were killed 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.720 in February. Many others were injured, and of course the 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:04.120 entire higher school and community completely traumatized when a nineteen 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.759 year old former student at the school returned with an 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.120 a R fifteen and open fire. I know this time 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.800 is different. Has become kind of a cliche but this 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.480 time really does feel different, um, namely because of how 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:20.800 the students at the school have responded. They've been remarkable. 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:23.520 I talked to Mark Bardon, who is the father from 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.400 Sandy Hook who lost his adorable son Daniel in that massacre, 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.600 and we were trying to understand why this felt different, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.759 and I think it's because, as you mentioned, Brian, these 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:39.480 high school students, they are smart, they're learning the issue, 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.679 and they're making their voices be heard. So it's almost 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:47.200 this built in advocacy group that has sprung up from 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.560 this horrific tragedy. You're exactly right. I mean, they're pressuring 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.680 politicians on social media. They organized a national school walkout day, 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:57.840 and also of course a march in Washington that's coming 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.720 up on Saturday, March, two days after this episode drops. 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.040 And that brings us to our first guest, Ali Sheehy. 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.600 She is a senior at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:14.760 in Parkland, a really sweet, nice, kind of typical high 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.760 school senior. Thinking about the things that high school seniors 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:23.520 think about their future, how to get through exams, graduation, 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.360 prom all these rites of passage when this happens. But 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:29.120 as you listen to her, I think you're going to 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.680 realize how extraordinary she actually is. She was so gracious 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:38.080 and open about her experience. It was very moving to 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:40.680 speak with her and today, By the way, it's a 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.680 two part episode. Our second guest is Shannon Watts, the 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:48.280 founder of Mom's Demand Action, which is a group pushing 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.840 for reform of our gun loss. She's another remarkable woman. 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.440 She started Mom's Demand Action as a stay at home 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.240 mom with five kids, no political experience. She had some 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:03.799 experiencing corporate communications, but like so many Americans, when she 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:08.359 heard about this shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.799 she said enough, I have got to do something. So 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:15.080 she decided to take action and decided to start this 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.880 organization that has grown tremendously and accomplished so much in 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.480 just five years. Mom's Demand Action now has fifty chapters 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.280 over a hundred thousand act of volunteers working to pass 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:29.600 what they call common sense gun reforms on the state 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.240 and federal level. You'll be hearing from Shannon a bit 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.560 later in the show, but first our conversation with an 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:44.560 extraordinary student from Parkland, Florida, Ali Sheehy. Hey, Ali, it's 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.480 Katie Kuric. Can you hear me? Okay, yes I can. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.320 Very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you as well. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.960 And this is Brian Goldsmith. Hey, Ali, it's nice to 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:54.920 meet you. Thanks so much for coming on the show. 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.880 Thank you for having me so Ali. Gosh, Um, it's 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.520 hard to really figure out where to begin. You're eighteen 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:03.920 years old, you're a senior in high school at Marjorie 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.760 Stoneman Douglas High School. I guess I'm going to ask 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.440 the question that reporters are told not to ask, but 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:15.280 somehow I feel is appropriate given the situation. How are 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.760 you doing? Um? I think right now all of us 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.440 are kind of doing the best that we can. It's 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.640 getting used to our new normal that we have at 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:27.080 our school and our community right now. And how would 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:30.760 you describe that new normal? I don't really think that 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:35.080 there's a way to describe it. There's just a wave 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:39.080 of emotions that kind of affects everybody differently at this point, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.960 and we're just kind of trying to all get through 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:46.360 it together because you don't know what the person next 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:49.560 to you is thinking or going through, or how this 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:53.719 aspected them. It's just kind of a sensitive situation that 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.640 we're all in right now. I'm sure you know everyone 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:01.719 deals with trauma differently, and is it a fairly unified 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:04.760 situation at the high school or if you've seen evidence 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:08.839 of people kind of at each other because of this 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.480 and dealing with emotion, you know, these very heavy emotions 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.920 at the same time. I mean, for the most part 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.000 right now at our school, we're all very unified, we're 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.280 all one family. But even in a family, you have 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.919 fights between people, and right now, most of the conflict 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.080 is between the political aspects of this kind of argument 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.960 that we're having, with the left and the right and 0:05:34.680 --> 0:05:40.080 liberals and conservatives at our school having different viewpoints and 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.680 different ways that they want to take this, And it's 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.400 just something that's hard to see because this is not 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.640 the time to argue between ourselves. It's something it's a 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.560 time that we all need to be together, and it's 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.920 it's just angers me to see people arguing over something 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.920 that we don't need to argue about. So Ali, before 0:06:02.960 --> 0:06:06.440 we talk about that terrible day and before we talk 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.720 more about the aftermath, can you tell our listeners a 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.680 little bit about your life before the shooting, about your 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.480 senior year. I know you describe yourself as a happy, 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.080 go lucky person. Before this, what were your interests and 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:27.880 activities and what's Parkland, Florida like? Um? Before this, I 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.080 was focused on my senior year getting AP tests and 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:35.919 finishing that out. And the week before that, I was 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.960 worried about my AP stack quiz that I had on 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.080 Friday that I didn't understand anything that I was doing, 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.880 so I was kind of studying really hard for that, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.000 and UM prom is coming up, So my friends and 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.719 I we're kind of worried about that and which jess 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.080 we're going on and what friends are coming with us, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:58.279 and what bus we're going on and sort of normal 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.840 high school things, right. And I also that day that morning, UM, 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.240 I asked my best friend if she wanted to be 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.920 my roommate in college. Where is where are you going 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:12.080 to school? Alley? I'm going to UCF in this summer. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.160 And what's Parkland, Florida like? I mean, I know, it's 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:18.880 about halfway between Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and it's 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:22.840 a fairly small, tight knit community. Well, we kind of 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:27.480 describe it as the Parkland Bubble because it's really just 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.560 a tight knit community of family and it's very family oriented. 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:35.240 It's a city that families with small children moved to 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:41.080 specifically because of the atmosphere that we have. The population 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.960 is kind of small, and we have a plus schools, 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:48.600 and it's just something that people come to feel safe at. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:54.320 It's a safe city. So you expressed to our producers 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:59.040 you are willing to talk about that day, and we 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.360 don't want to read troum ties you Ali, So you 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:06.640 talk about whatever you're comfortable talking about. But as you mentioned, 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:09.000 you were thinking about the prom, you were talking to 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.160 your best friend about college, you were worried about an 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:18.040 AP test, and then suddenly those concerns, which are legitimate 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:21.800 for a high school senior, for any student across the country, 0:08:21.840 --> 0:08:27.119 but they became obviously something that I had no weight 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.160 in your life. Tell us about where you were and 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.679 what you witnessed and what that day was like for 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:39.880 you personally. UM My morning started out normally. I got 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.240 up late because I didn't want to get out of 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:46.360 bed because I'm not a morning person. Um. But I 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.120 got to school, I hung out with my friends and 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.880 the parking lot, and I asked my best friend to 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.400 be my roommate. I made a little sign and I said, 0:08:54.400 --> 0:08:56.760 will you be my Valentine but crossed out Valentine and 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:58.680 wrote roommate and she said yes, and we had a 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:02.480 big hug um and then we all separated and we 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.240 didn't think any of a thing of it, and we 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.800 just saw said a quick bye, see you later, and 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.280 we went to our first period and the morning announcements 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.840 came on and UM, our assistant principal came on for 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:20.000 his usual normal UM morning announcements and he started talking 0:09:20.040 --> 0:09:22.920 about like the protocols in our zones for fire drills, 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.800 and we're like, oh, there must be a fire drill 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.280 coming up later, And sure enough, second period, the fire 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.200 alarm one goes off. We all walk out of the building, calmly, 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:36.800 stand in rose, go back in. Ten minutes later, class continues. 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:42.640 Fourth period comes around and my teacher we kind of 0:09:42.640 --> 0:09:45.720 got halfway through class and we were in a project 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.160 because we just finished reading Macbeth and we were doing 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.640 a project on that, and she had to leave early 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.760 because she had to drop her kid off at the doctor, 0:09:54.440 --> 0:09:58.319 so she had to drop us off in the auditorium 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:03.199 because there weren't enough subs that day to cover uh, 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.920 So we had a teacher from the freshman building come 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.520 over with his class, and then we were sitting and 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.280 finishing up our project and we're kind of goofing around, 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.079 and then the fire alarm went off again, and we 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:19.840 were kind of confused because we didn't know why this 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:22.679 would happen so close to the end of the day. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.400 So we got up, we walked outside, and we heard 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.079 some pops. We didn't think anything of it, but then 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:32.439 we saw kids running and screaming, and so we were like, oh, 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.240 this must be like a real fire. We should start 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:39.040 walking faster um, and we picked up the pace, but 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:43.559 then we were our auditorium is right next to the administration, 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:47.680 like the office, and administrators were telling us to turn 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:51.040 back and go back inside. So we ran back inside 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:52.959 and we're like, this is weird. Why are we doing this? 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.880 And for the first ten minutes we thought that this 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.000 was a drill, like this was a code red jill. 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:02.120 But the more and more we thought about it, the 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.560 more and more we realized why would they make a 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:08.040 code red drill so closely end of school, Why would 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.959 they not tell the teachers, and why would so many 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:18.760 sirens be coming from outside? And I immediately started texting 0:11:18.760 --> 0:11:21.400 all my friends and trying to calm down the people 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.960 around me, because kids that I've gone to school with 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:30.560 for my entire life, basically we're breaking down crying. We 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.040 all thought we didn't know if we were going to 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:35.600 make it out. And that's a very scary thing to 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:39.800 think about. It's not something I ever want anybody else 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:43.400 to text to their parents, because I know. I texted 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:45.880 my mom and I said, I don't know if this 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.760 is real, but I want to let you know I 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:54.120 love you. And she responded back saying what and ten 0:11:54.120 --> 0:12:00.080 minutes past and I said, Mom, it's real. So you 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:03.000 went back into the school after you had left the school. 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:06.680 We didn't actually leave like the school grounds. We were 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:11.679 just outside of the auditorium, so we didn't It's one 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.320 of those things that you drill for and teachers are 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:17.640 told to put you back into the building when this happens. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.200 Where was your class before your teacher left early? I'm 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:27.040 just curious, was your class in the area. No, I 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.040 actually moved closer to where it was happening. If she 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.480 did not leave early, we would have been in the 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:35.360 nine building, which is the furthest one away from where 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.560 it happened, and we would have been in the backfield 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:41.920 and already evacuated to Walmart when it happened. When you 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:47.559 when did you realize, Ali, what had happened inside that school? 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.200 It was when I started getting messages from my friends 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.959 that were in that building saying, I'm I love you 0:12:54.480 --> 0:12:57.720 and it's real, it's happening. Like two kids in my 0:12:57.800 --> 0:13:01.560 class were just shot and there's blood everywhere. So kids 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:06.000 were texting you as it was actually going on. Did 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:09.480 you know many of the students who lost their lives 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:15.200 that day? Um? I knew a few. Um. Three of 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.960 them were my grade. Um. One of them, Carmen, was 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:25.520 in some of my classes, and one of the younger ones, 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.120 one of the freshman's that passed away. Um, is on 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:34.760 my little sister's soccer team, and the two coaches saw 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:39.439 them every morning. Just hard to believe, isn't it? Mm hmm. 0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:47.320 Is it hard to talk about this for you, Ali? Yeah, 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.120 it's hard to listen. I can only imagine having to 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:54.480 tell the story. I'm hesitant even to ask this, But 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:59.400 did you know the shooter at all? I did. He 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.400 was in grade before he got expelled. What can you 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:10.520 tell us about him? Um? He was just Um the 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.240 best way I can describe him. Was. He was a 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:17.360 weird person that went up to anybody and everybody and 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.480 talked to them like he knew them already. And me, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.800 as a shy person that doesn't really like talking to people, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.560 it was kind of awkward and I'd always try to 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.080 shuffle away whenever he came up to me. But he 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:34.040 was very persistent and would talk about the most randomous things. 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:39.640 And he was a kid that went to our middle school. 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.800 It's he had had problems all before. He had to 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:48.360 bring a plastic bag to school because he couldn't bring 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.480 his backpack anymore, so that they could see what he 0:14:50.520 --> 0:14:53.480 brought to school, because he was that much of a threat. 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:59.480 Are you surprised that more wasn't done or disturbed that 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.640 more wasn't done given the warning signs that seemed in 0:15:04.720 --> 0:15:11.520 retrospect to have been everywhere. I'm disturbed by it, definitely, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:16.960 because this is something that should never have happened. But 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.200 it's also something that I know my school did the 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.360 most that they could have, given the laws and the 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.800 rules that they're given as teachers. There was nothing that 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:31.320 the school could have done. It was left to our 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.320 government and our local police officers. But even though you 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.760 were limited and it's just something that never should have happened. 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.000 We'll be taking a quick break and we'll be back 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:48.080 with Parkland student Ali She right after this, and now 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:54.680 back with Alie She in the math aftermath of this tragedy. 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.800 I know your focus is on school safety, whereas I 0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:03.160 know some many of your classmates are focused on changing 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.760 gun laws. So how did you decide to focus on 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:11.200 this aspect of the issue. And I'm curious about if 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:15.040 that's created any tension among your classmates. I don't think 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:19.160 it's tension among our classmates. For me personally, I'm not 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.200 only talking about school safety, I believe and stronger and 0:16:23.280 --> 0:16:27.200 stricter gun laws. It's just that we already have a 0:16:27.280 --> 0:16:30.480 forefront for the gun laws. People. Those are my friends. 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.480 Those people that are speaking out are students from my school. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.200 They I've known them forever. They're talking about it. They 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:41.840 have a strong argument with them already, but we're kind 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.760 of working in conjunction with them to get this full 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:50.800 spectrum of problems that need to be fixed. When you 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:53.840 say that you're focused on school safety, what does that 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:58.800 actually mean. Well, I've looked into it, and for fire 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:02.360 jewels for our schools, I don't know if it's every 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:06.520 county yet. I haven't done enough research, but we're required 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.840 to have a fire drill once every month. That means 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.920 that we have ten fire drills every single school years. 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.040 Since we've been in kindergarten, that has been something that 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.200 has been drilled into our heads that it's an automatic 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.600 response to get up and walk out of the classroom 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:25.919 when that bell goes off. For code red drills, we 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.040 don't practice them that that often. It's not an automatic 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.600 response to get up and go to the safest corner 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.399 of the room. It's something that in a moment that 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.879 we haven't practiced as much as fire drills, that people 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.440 freeze and they don't know what to do and they panic. 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:44.120 And I I've talked to people that were in the building. 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.720 I know people that were in some of the rooms, 0:17:46.800 --> 0:17:49.640 and some of the people in those rooms that actually 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:52.719 passed away was because they went for the window first 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:56.239 instead of going towards the corner. Or people started going 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:58.640 towards the corner, but they weren't completely out of sight 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:00.960 from the window and the door, so they were out 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.280 in the open and they got hit. And it's something 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.280 that needs to become a second nature that a fire 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:11.560 drill is because it's unacceptable. It's even disturbing that we 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.120 have to practice these kinds of things. But it's something 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.640 that is our new reality. This is something that we've 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.679 grown up with our entire lives. Like when Columbine happened, 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:24.560 I was not even born, so that was something that 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.960 the schools implemented as I went to school. I've grown 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:33.080 up with this and it's something that definitely needs to 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:37.200 be fixed on multiple levels. But right now we should 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:41.200 be fixing the problems that we have. It's just a 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:46.040 big cluster of wrong right. And what what do you 0:18:46.119 --> 0:18:51.120 make of President Trump's recommendation that more teachers should be armed? 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.840 How do you feel about that? Alley I that is 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:58.200 the worst idea I have ever heard in my life. 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:05.040 I absolutely eat that idea. It's once you're in that situation, 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:11.600 you understand. But a swat team coming into your room, 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.000 they have their guns drawn, they have they asked and 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:19.880 are screaming at you to have their hands raised where 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:23.840 they can see them. And if my teacher had a gun, 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.159 how are they supposed to tell that that person is 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:31.080 the bad guy or the good guy. And another thing 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.439 that I find very disturbing is how they're talking about 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:37.959 doing it with having the gun locked away, and if 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:40.240 it's locked away, you need to have the AMMO separate 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:43.639 from it. And if it's locked away, this happened in 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:49.840 six minutes. Six minutes is a very short amount of time. 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.840 Six minutes is not enough time to protect your students 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.399 and make sure they're safe. Then go to yours guns safe, 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.359 get out your stuff, and then ask my teacher that 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:05.120 has volunteered their time to teach me, to make me 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.919 into a doctor, into a lawyer, into a politician, into 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.080 a baker, into anything that I'm going to do in 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:16.639 my future, and then asked them to risk their lives for. 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:20.720 That's not something they signed up for. There was legislation 0:20:20.840 --> 0:20:23.760 just signed in Florida that does a variety of things. 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.399 That annects a three day waiting period to buy a 0:20:26.440 --> 0:20:29.479 gun at bands so called bump stocks, that raises them 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.520 inimum age with some exceptions to one. It also does 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:36.679 make it easier to train and armed school employees. Um, 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:41.000 what's your reaction to this legislation? Did you support it? 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:43.600 It's it's a baby step in the right direction, and 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.400 they're not listening to what we're actually asking for. They're 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.280 kind of just pacifying what we're asking for and hopes 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:52.159 that we're going to stop. And I can tell you 0:20:52.240 --> 0:20:54.520 right now, we're not going to stop, because this has 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:59.359 happened way too many times and I don't want my 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:03.520 school to be another statistic in the school shooting list. 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:06.320 Don't want that to happen. Ali, what are you actually 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:09.600 asking for? We want to ban on the assault weapons 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.560 because there had There's no way that that should have happened. 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.680 There's no way that a nineteen year old that has 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.880 a background like that should have gotten a weapon like that. 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:24.640 There's so many levels of what we want for stricter 0:21:24.680 --> 0:21:28.600 background checks and mental health screenings. They're offering more for 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:32.840 arming teachers than they are for regular citizens on the streets, 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.040 and that's completely ridiculous to me. How do you feel 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.399 about President Trump's reaction to this? Did you appreciate that 0:21:40.440 --> 0:21:43.199 he invited students to the White House and do you 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.440 think there's any hope that he will see things your way? 0:21:48.960 --> 0:21:52.560 For the President inviting people to the White House to 0:21:53.080 --> 0:21:56.399 talk to him, I felt that was a big slap 0:21:56.440 --> 0:22:00.800 in the face because that weekend and a couple of 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.919 days before that, he was here. He was where we 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:07.480 all were. He was here to the point where students 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.560 and teachers could talk to him, But instead he selected 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:17.080 a few and brought them to him and in an 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:19.879 environment that only he could control. And I didn't like 0:22:20.040 --> 0:22:23.560 that because he only selected a few voices of what 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:28.680 actually happened. You wrote a poem ally called Dear Mr President. 0:22:28.920 --> 0:22:33.719 UM one inspired you to write that, um it was 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:39.520 the morning when he was in or near Parkland and 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:44.960 he was not answering our calls to actually speak with 0:22:45.040 --> 0:22:48.560 him and have a conversation with him. It was also 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:52.960 the morning that he wrote that the FBI failed us 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:58.200 because they were busy with the Russian collusion. And that 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:01.080 made me even more angry because he was sitting in 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:04.200 his hotel room watching TV while all of us were 0:23:04.200 --> 0:23:07.240 going to vigils and memorials and bearing our friends. That 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:11.679 actually is so upsetting. That makes me cry thinking about 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:15.520 you all in this cognitive dissonance between what you all 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:20.040 were experiencing and what the President was tweeting. But can 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:22.400 you read a little of the poem you wrote? Why 0:23:22.400 --> 0:23:24.720 don't you read actually the whole thing, because it's short 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:26.560 enough that you can read the whole thing. And it's 0:23:26.600 --> 0:23:31.000 so good, So go ahead. My poem is called Dear Mr. President. 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.680 My friends have died, They are gone from our lives, 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.399 Yet you sit there twiddling your thumbs. My friends have died, 0:23:40.680 --> 0:23:44.200 the life gone from their eyes, Yet you sit there 0:23:44.240 --> 0:23:48.480 talking anything but guns. My friends have died, and we've 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.680 cried and cried, yet you sit there blaming them mentally ill. 0:23:53.800 --> 0:23:58.080 My friends have died, our voices pushed aside, yet you 0:23:58.119 --> 0:24:02.199 sit there. You sit there still. My friends have died 0:24:02.359 --> 0:24:05.640 and our tears aren't dried, yet you sit there watching 0:24:05.760 --> 0:24:10.760 us plead. My friends have died. It's an issue nationwide. 0:24:11.400 --> 0:24:15.720 You sit there still. So how about you lead as 0:24:15.760 --> 0:24:19.200 a community forever unified? I asked you, sir, how did 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:22.199 this happen to us? I invite you to learn to 0:24:22.320 --> 0:24:25.080 hear the story from inside, because if not now, when 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:30.320 will the right time be to discuss that? Really? Uh spread? 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:35.280 I think on social media your poem. What kind of 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:38.679 reaction did you get to your poem? I got a 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:41.560 lot of positive There was a lot of people supporting 0:24:41.960 --> 0:24:46.600 and asking, tagging along with why hasn't anything been done 0:24:46.840 --> 0:24:51.000 so far? I also got a lot of negative feedback 0:24:51.280 --> 0:24:54.960 for people saying I was disrespectful to the president and 0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.399 that I was blaming him for everything that happened, which 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:02.960 I didn't tend to do, nor do I want to. 0:25:03.920 --> 0:25:08.119 I'm just asking him why he didn't do anything. Elie. 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:11.200 I understand that you're an editor on your school yearbook 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:14.760 and this is the first high school that has to 0:25:14.880 --> 0:25:18.000 document an event like this, and it's your book. So 0:25:18.600 --> 0:25:23.159 how are you covering this tragedy. It's something that we 0:25:23.280 --> 0:25:27.639