Soul Sister: Naomi Wadler’s Speech at the March For Our Lives

Kids who are taking the lead in the fight against Second Amendment absolutism prove Americans still grow up under the assumption we have the right to govern themselves. (Though these youngsters also seem to have a pretty sophisticated sense of “white privilege” and downsides of the country’s history.) Faith in demos and youth may sometimes be misplaced. I worried when the crowd at March For Our Lives seemed to cheer louder as their reps grew younger. OTOH—what the hey—when “adults in the room” around Trump are bully-boys like John Kelly, gimme kids any day.  God knows the American organizing tradition has been enlivened by engaged youth in the past. Just think of those young men and women in Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who drove the Civil Rights Movement forward in the early 60s. One of the most engaging books on their struggle was appropriately titled, The Children. I’m guessing vets of the Southern Civil Rights movement were thrilled to see Naomi Wadler et al. update their tradition…B.D.