Parkland, Fla., student Jaclyn Corin encouraged protesters to “keep screaming at your own congressman” so they will listen to pleas for gun control after the deadly shooting at her high school.
Corin was one of many Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student organizers who developed the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
“There is strength in numbers and we need each and every one of you to keep screaming at your own congressman,” Corin said. “Don’t be scared just because they have ‘senator’ in front of their name.”
Corin hit Congress for refusing to act despite American deaths to gun violence. {mosads}
“Instead of waking up to protect us, they have been hitting the snooze button,” she said. “But we’re here to shake them awake.”
As congressional recess begins next week, Corin encouraged protesters to call or visit their elected officials in their home office.
“Have them hear you out because they work for us,” Corin said.
The high schooler also took a dig at President Trump and his campaign slogan, saying “We cannot keep ‘America Great’ if we don’t keep America safe.”
She acknowledged that Parkland students are “privileged individuals” from an “affluent city” that have received immense attention since the Feb. 14 mass shooting at her high school.
But Corin choked up with emotion as she pleaded with protesters to help her, saying she does not want their communities to “join the ghastly inner circle that mine is now a part of.”
Corin was one of five Parkland students to be pictured on the cover of Time Magazine last week.
Her classmate, Emma González, held a moment of silence for a little over six minutes to showcase how quickly a gunman was able to shoot 17 people, drop his rifle and flee the school.