Transcendent March for Our Lives marred only by Jennifer Hudson.
Watching The March for Our Lives in Washington D.C on TV was a profoundly moving experience. The focus was, rightly, on the Parkland kids, this remarkable group of almost surreally poised, passionate, articulate young activist voices, one after another stepping to the microphone and evoking cheers and tears simultaneously somehow. Even Sam Fuentes’ passion puking was perfect, especially her post-puke exclamation, “I just threw up on international television . .. and it felt great!”
The last speech, given by Emma Gonzalez, was nothing less than historic. The impact of holding a silence in honor of those who died, in front of 800,000 people, for nearly six minutes and twenty seconds, the amount of time it took the killer to end the lives of 17 people, took courage and conviction that I’ve NEVER seen from any of our politicians or pundits. I dare say such a silence on television has never happened before and will never happen again. In the history of our nation, never has a speaker said so much by saying so little for so long.
I was drained as I never am in front of the TV. The entire spectacle was tight, professional, and on message. Even the stars who punctuated the event with songs in support of the kids managed to just make their contribution and quickly get offstage so that the spotlight would remain on the kids.