By Dave Mulligan
Standing in the center of the undulating crowd at the March For Our Lives in downtown Reno, I took in the hundreds — perhaps thousands — of passionately written signs. There was anger in them. There was bitterness and contempt in the words. It was the language of a society that has become absolutely fed up with itself; with what it has become. It was the language of revolution.
I read all of them and felt satisfaction, then lowered my gaze to the resolute faces of the men, women, and children who’d painted them. I felt proud of them for having gone to the trouble and marched out their front doors to do their part in helping right a wrong — a long-standing wrong that has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people.
However, the most stirring things I witnessed at the March For Our Lives were the clipboards. Scores of volunteers strolled through the stirring crowd registering young people to vote. While the demonstrations and the speeches were moving, inspirational, and no doubt cathartic for the speakers, it was the proactive step of registering new voters that will have the most profound effect — perhaps tectonic in its ramifications — on American culture.
What is about to happen is going to drastically alter the political landscape of America and there are no doubt hundreds of politicians who are updating their resumes this morning.
It’s shameful that the “adults” in charge of America today have failed so profoundly by allowing the NRA to basically write the rules of how our country manages access to firearms and weapons of war. Today, after the March For Our Lives, every single politician in America will be judged by how much money they’ve accepted from the NRA. And also by the grade they’ve received from them. Congressmen with an “A” grade from the National Rifle Association are doomed. Those dollars they’ve received — often in the millions — are now considered to be dripping with the blood of school children and other innocent victims who’ve fallen over the decades.
History was made on Saturday. America changed, and that change came from our children. Standing in the middle of it, breathing the air of revolution, is something I’ll never forget.
America is healing.
Dave Mulligan is a local Reno resident of over 25 years. He is a published author (Mulligan’s Wake), television producer and a left-leaning political activist (Masses Unite). He lives happily on the Truckee River and is the married father of three (his most important role, according to Dave).
