MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: Gen Z Takes to the Streets

Sharp distinctions between generational cohorts are mostly bogus. There are surely distinctions to be made between millennials and Generation Z, but it’s in intensity not kind. Millennials are often seen as the bridge generation between analog and digital. Gen Z is solidly digital. Millennials express quiet frustration and disenchantment. Gen Z gets angry and in your face as in Parkland high school senior Emma Gonzalez’s “We call B.S.!”

This is not to say that millennials didn’t protest. But the general assumption of Gen Z is one of being totally fed up: “We’re not going to take this any more!” This is who we will see marching in the Capitol on Saturday. They do not march out of clearly thought out political principles or thought through public policy considerations. They don’t march out of convictions born of abstractions. No they march because of relational pain and relational solidarity. Activism for them has a name and a face. About her activism, Emma Gonzalez told CNN, “I don’t have a choice.”

Into the midst of partisan paralysis, political scandal, and corporate greed, these young activists are serving as the conscience of the nation. They are to be applauded, supported, and honored for no longer assuming that the status quo on guns is OK. They are showing us a better way. They make this grandfather proud to be an American again. "You will be found!"