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Oprah Winfrey recently celebrated the courage of the Parkland, Fla. shooting survivors, who turned their anger into activism, referring to them as “warriors of the light.”
“These young people get to be literally warriors of the light,” the mogul and Wrinkle in Time star said Saturday in an interview with the Associated Press. “That’s what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to—through their voices, through the March For Our Lives—say, ‘We will not let this happen again. We are going to do what we can to banish the darkness.’”
The Parkland students reminded Winfrey of several civil rights pioneers, who sacrificed and fought for better lives for oppressed Americans. Winfrey drew striking parallels between the teenage students and the Freedom Riders of the 1960s, who held racial segregation protests on buses in southern states. She was proud of the students’ movement to bring about gun reform now.
“It’s an evolving moment for our country. The same thing happened, as you know, back in the ’50s and ’60s for the civil rights movement,” Winfrey said. “Young people said, ‘We will not tolerate what our ancestors have tolerated. We have had enough and we’re willing to fight for it and willing to march in the streets for it and, if necessary, die for it.’”
Last week, the former talk show host matched a $500,000 donation by George and Amal Clooney to the students’ planned marches, including one on March 24 in Washington, D.C., CNN reported.
The mass shooting tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that ended with 17 people dead on February 14 has sparked protests at schools across the nation. The fight will continue on as these brave students advocate for gun control and proudly challenge those who stand in their way.
Oprah Makes Powerful Move for Parkland Shooting Survivors was originally published on newsone.com
