Parkland: Birth of a Movement

On February 14, 2018, the lives of every student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was altered. After a teenager took the lives of seventeen people, the students took action to prevent this from happening again. Using social media, they grabbed the people’s attention not only with their recount of the day’s events but with their swift and direct blame on flawed policies and systems of power that allowed this to happen. In the wake of the tragedy, they wanted change. They wanted to be the last school shooting.

Like the activists, Dave Cullen knows the power of information. He doesn’t need to embellish when the events are heartbreaking and the statistics are overwhelming. Woven in with the information, you get a sense of who these kids are and what motivates them. You see the students finding their voices and be pragmatic about keeping it focused and the media’s attention on their message. Parkland is inspiring, giving a great history of Parkland for people both familiar and new to the movement. Following the kids from the inception of March For Our Lives to the present version of the organization, the story argues for reform and education with a strong message of hope.