Just 17 Minutes

Looking back on when I

Schools representing children slain by guns littered the Capitol grounds

Was a little nappy headed boy
Then my only worry
Was for Christmas what would be my toy
Even though we sometimes
Would not get a thing
We were happy with the
Joy the day would bring
Sneaking out the back door
To hang out with those 
Hoodlum friends of mine
Greeted at the back door
But thought I told you not to go outside
Tryin' your best to bring the
Water to your eyes
Thinkin' it might stop her
From woopin' your behind
I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ever have to go
I wish those days could come back once more
Why did those days ever have to go
-Stevie Wonder

I can't tell you, how many times I heard this song on the radio or danced to it. It's strange but this Stevie Wonder song makes me laugh. Because some of it was my childhood. I could get into trouble, for just being curious about things, or people, or life. Most of us who are grown up now, couldn't wait to get out on our own. It's natural to want to go after the life that we saw all the adults in our lives living. The sort of trouble our kids face is because some in the system are standing in their way.

Students and Parents lit candles mourning the loss of those at Parkalnd

Last month, bullets again ripped though another school, killing children and teachers. Their lives were stopped cold in the face of trauma, tragedy, and grief. They cried out to the grown ups to do something this time. Fix this! The replies were more of the same thing that met other grieving families going back to Columbine. Some grown-ups both near and far, just had words. A self hugging President Donald Trump, proclaimed that he would have run into the building like a super-hero. He sat there as parents and young people from Stoneman Douglas High School looked at him and said "I lost somebody. Fix this Mister President!" Trump's confused thinking he proclaimed ideas of seizing the guns and then later after consulting with the NRA he said, No we won't do that. NRA talking heads pretending to care, shamefully turn the attention to journalists. "You're the problem," Dana Loesch proclaims. You love the killings because you love the ratings.

And the kids said, we got this, and don't get in our way. "The time for confusion is over. We don't

want your politics, or your prayers, your half solutions, or tough talk, and most of all we don't want guns," they proclaimed on and off both social media and mainstream media. Young people from Parkland, Florida, to my city Fresno, California, have walked out in protest of the latest tragedy and all tragedies brought on by guns. They are doing it peacefully but with a purpose, and that is to bring attention to the fact that they see these killings, and that they don't want to be next.

I was happy to see some lawmakers and congressmen standing with these children at the Capitol.

"we got this, and don't get in our way"

Great men like John Lewis who continues to fight for all good causes in America. But it broke my heart that in some schools, some teachers along with politicians just don't get it. In my own city in Fresno, California; a group of young people at Computech Middle School who were planning to join the protest of gun shootings won't be stopped from joining in national protests, but they can't mention guns. Computech principal, Andrew Scherrer, offered a dumb-down version of the 17-minute walk-out, and "highly encouraged" the students to make the event only a memorial for the victims, and shy away from discussing gun policy, also sighting that those who participated would be marked absent for the day. At Pensacola High, several freshman received a note stating:

A Young Student shows a warning if she protests guns

"Malcolm Thomas Escambia County District Superintendent does not support a student walk-out. If you leave campus, there will be discipline consequences for refusing to follow directions."

The thing that really shocked me was footage of  police handcuffing Aminah Glenn, a 13 year old junior at Kenwood Academy in Chicago, as though she was some dangerous armed young thug for walking out in protest. The bystanders shouted "Let her go!- Let her Go!"

Aminah Glenn, a 13 year old junior at Kenwood handcuffed because she walked out

Maybe our young people have learned their lessons too well, that guns kill. Some schools and parents are with the kids, because today is their future and they must be allow a voice in the conversation. It's
pitiful that some of the most powerful people in America won't effect change, some of the teachers in charge of our children's education missed a teaching opportunity, and the students are now the lesson givers here in America. When our children can have normal childhoods without the fear of gun violence, then maybe we as parents also can have normal lives that doesn't include one more child funeral. I truly wish those days would come back again.

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