Angie Timmons - Identifying and Documenting a Community Problem for a Political Campaign

Published in 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010

Copyright 2020 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Timmons, Angie, author.

Title: Identifying and documenting a community problem

for a political campaign / Angie Timmons.

Description: New York: Rosen Publishing, 2020 | Series: Be the change!

: political participation in your community | Includes bibliographical

references and index. | Audience: Grade 7 to 12.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019013273| ISBN 9781725340848

(library bound) | ISBN 9781725340831 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Political campaignsJuvenile literature. | Political participation

Juvenile literature. | Community organizationJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC JF2112.C3 T54 2019 | DDC 324.7dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019013273

Manufactured in the United States of America

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE
IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEMS IN YOUR COMMUNITY

CHAPTER TWO
UNDERSTANDING THE COMMUNITY

CHAPTER THREE
ASSESSING A CANDIDATE

CHAPTER FOUR
ITS YOUR TURN

INTRODUCTION

O n the afternoon of February 14, 2018, nineteenyear- old Nikolas Cruz paid a visit to his former high school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, armed with an AR-15 assault-style rifle. Cruz opened fire, killed fourteen students and three staff members, wounded fifteen other people, then snuck out of the school amidst the crowd of people fleeing for their lives. He was apprehended an hour later and eventually charged with seventeen counts of premeditated murder.

The Stoneman Douglas shooting was the worst high school shooting since the April 20, 1999, massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which two twelfth graders killed twelve of their fellow students and one teacher before committing suicide in the school library. School shootings became an unfortunately common news headline in the years that followed Columbine. A February 14, 2018, Washington Post article reported that since 2000, more than 130 shootings had occurred at American elementary, middle, and high schools. More than fifty shootings had happened at colleges and universities.

Shortly after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a group of students who survived the shooting sprang into action. In the wake of the tragedy, they made use of the press attention to share their stories and call for gun reform measures. Inspired by the students bravery, supporters across the nation demonstrated outside of state houses, flooded elected officials with phone calls and letters, and staged school walkouts to demand tighter gun control laws.

The March for Our Lives movement, which was started by survivors of a high school shooting, called attention to the issue of gun violence and the need for reform.

On March 24, just one month and ten days after the shooting, the Stoneman Douglas survivors brought their demands for gun control legislation to Washington, DC, by organizing a huge demonstration called the March for Our Lives. Hundreds of thousands of supporters held satellite marches in cities around the world.

What began as a group of high school students protesting against gun violence turned into the activist organization March for Our Lives. The organization has developed a comprehensive policy agenda and its members actively pressure lawmakers to draft and adopt gun control measures. The founders of March for Our Lives stayed active and loud throughout 2018 and urged voters to pressure their elected officials on the issue of gun control, making it a key issue in the runup to the midterm elections. On November 6, 2018, Democratsmost of whom openly supported gun reform measures during their campaignsbecame the majority party in the US House of Representatives.

March for Our Lives is a powerful example of what can happen when young people identify a problem, document their experiences, and demand that political candidates and elected officials acknowledge and address the problem. While the future of gun control legislation in the United States is unclear, the Stoneman Douglas survivors reminded the public that important things can be accomplished when people work toward solving community problems. They showed that power lies within the will of the people and that elected representatives should remember that they work on behalf of the people they represent.