Emma Gonzalez’s Mom on Standing “Behind” Her Daughter’s Activism: “We Should’ve Been in Front of Her”
Emma Gonzalez is a national treasure.pic.twitter.com/uNR4ZJjQPP
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) March 18, 2018
Emma Gonzalez has become one of the most recognizable faces in the fight for stricter gun legislation and against the gun lobby’s financial hold on our government. She’s also, however, still a teenager, and while at 18 she’s technically a legal adult, her mother is still concerned about how frantic her life has gotten since the Parkland shooting.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Gonzalez continued to speak out on the state of gun legislation in this country, as well as the less-than-adequate solutions being proposed to keep students safe from shootings at school.
Calling the idea to arm teachers in schools “stupid” (she’s not wrong), Gonzalez goes on to explain the many flaws with that idea:
“First of all, [her school] ran out of paper for, like, two weeks in the school year, and now all of a sudden they have 400 million dollars to pay for teachers to get trained to arm themselves? Really? Really? If you’re a teacher with a gun, do you keep it in a lock box, or do you keep it on your person? If the teacher dies, and a student who’s a “good student”is able to get the gun, are they now held responsible to shoot the student who’s come into the door? I’m not happy with that. “
Meanwhile, as Gonzalez’s public profile increases, her mother Beth naturally worries about her and how much she’s taking on: “It’s like she built herself a pair of wings out of balsa wood and duct tape and jumped off a building, and we’re just like running along beneath her with a net, which she doesn’t want or think that she needs.”
That wording is interesting. Beth says “or think that she needs,” reminding us that Gonzalez is still young and in need of guidance, and that Gonzalez’s schoolmates should not have this issue placed exclusively on their shoulders.
When talking about the public reaction to her daughter, Beth says, “Somebody said ‘Please, tell Emma we’re behind her,’ which I appreciate, but we should’ve been in front of her,” then, on the verge of tears, she continues, “I should’ve been in front of her. We adults, we should’ve dealt with this twenty years ago.”
It’s not enough to leave it to the kids. Some of these kids, like Gonzalez herself, are old enough to vote, but most are not. Where will you be on March 24th, and how will you vote in your next election?
(via @ErickFernandez on Twitter, image: screencap)
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