BY DC CUEVA
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Police eventually found the perpetrator shortly after, and once the dust had settled, fourteen students and three faculty members were gunned down, while seventeen others were wounded. The Parkland massacre surpassed the events in Columbine nineteen years earlier as the deadliest high school shooting to have ever taken place in the United States. And that, along with the Las Vegas festival shooting of a few months earlier, the Pulse Nightclub tragedy in Orlando in 2016 and the Santa Fe High School shooting just last week only more than fueled the debate over gun control laws, as high-profile shootings such as this have unfortunately become everyday news in the past few years.
And shortly after the shooting in their hometown, twenty Stoneman Douglas school students banded together to form the student-led gun control organization, Never Again. The group, and social media movement with its hashtags #NeverAgain and #EnoughIsEnough, helped to stage many protests, both in the streets and in schools, as a call for action to legislators and Congress to prevent mass shootings like the one at their school, and has put politicians on blast for supporting the NRA, while its members also took to the cover of Time Magazine a month after Parkland.
But perhaps the school's most notable alum is also a member of the MTV family: Karamo Brown, who we first saw on Real World Philadelphia in 2004 as a Houstonian and nonprofit worker who dropped a bombshell on the roommates' first night that he was gay - the first African-American gay man on reality television. That season saw him express strong views on race and had dealings with police that stemmed from references to the N-word in front of his roommates, and who then appeared on The Challenge: Inferno II a year later.
It was afterwards that he was confronted with an unexpected challenge when a letter in the mail demanding overdue child support led him to the Texas AG who informed him that he had a son that was kept secret by a high school friend who became pregnant while being a sophomore. 10-year-old son Jason and half-brother Chris would join Karamo as he would become a regular on Dr. Drew, Oprah's OWN network, red carpets, TV One's The Fame 15, last year's Are You The One? spinoff - AYTO Second Chances, and ultimately to the coveted spot as part of the new Fab Five on Netflix's revival of Queer Eye.
The shootings that shook the entire country that February day touched Karamo very much that he went to Washington, D.C. to join the 800,000 people who participated in the March of Our Lives, and the largest of the many protests that took place in America on Saturday, March 24, where 2 million took part in one of the largest youth-led protests to take place since the Vietnam War. He was not alone: Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Common and Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda were also part of the demonstrations.
For Karamo, he used a Saturday morning session of the 2018 Equality Convention held by LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign - and held at the same time as March for Our Lives - to share publicly for the first time that he went to high school walking the same Parkland halls as those who endured those agonizing hours a month earlier. One of those who were killed in the attack was someone he personally knew: 37-year-old Aaron Feis was a football assistant coach and security guard who was one of the three faculty members who were killed when he acted as a shield to two students during the rampage, and sacrificed his life in preventing them from being killed by the gunman's bullets.
Brown told Entertainment Tonight, "To see that school, my high school, on television, and students be running out of the same hallways that I used to walk around gleefully broke my heart. I can’t help but think about the parents who are grieving for their children that are lost, because no parent should ever outlive their child. It just shouldn’t happen. You know, not only as an alum, but also as a parent now, thinking about those precious lives that were lost, it means it’s time for change. Enough is enough."
Below is the video and transcribed script of his impassioned speech to the HRC, which took place before the March of Our Lives two months ago tomorrow (as this is posted on Wed, May 23rd).
You know, I haven't really shared this publicly, but I'm a proud graduate of Stoneman Douglas High School, Class of 1999. You know, when I saw on the news a few weeks back that my alma mater was being called the site of the world's deadliest school massacre, you all cannot imagine how my heart broke.
In one moment, fourteen students and three staff members were viciously murdered by senseless gun violence. One of those staff members was a friend of mine: his name was Aaron Feist. He was killed that day shielding students from gunfire. I don't think many people realize this or know this, but like me Aaron too was a graduate of Douglas: he was my classmate, I rooted for him when he played football and cheered him on as we graduated on the same day, same year.
I actually remember the moment I learned that Aaron had returned to Douglas to teach. He returned because he wanted to give back to the students what he and I had received from our teachers, which was unconditional love, a relentless encouragement to be fearless in your passions, and a clear guidance on how to achieve your dreams.
You know, as I think about the students who survived this tragic shooting, and how they're showing up right now in the midst of their pain, I gotta be honest -- I can't help but smile a little because I do see Aaron in them. I also see my teachers, and I see my teachers' teachers, and I see a long legacy of people that have passed down lessons rooted in strength and real resiliency.
You know, these students who survived -- these brave souls are proudly carrying on this legacy by channeling their pain into deliberate action...action that is grounded in love, passion and clear focus for what it takes to achieve a better tomorrow. People are waking up right now realizing that thousands upon thousands of people are gathering all over this great nation today because our kids are teaching us to finally declare enough is enough and demand legislative change.
Today is a day we send a clear message that we are not against your rights, we are for our children and our families, and you should be too (applause). Today is a day we follow the lead of these fearless students who survive and chant their words, "Never Again."
If you believe that we have a right to demand that legislative action be taken to prevent similar shootings, I want to hear everyone in this room say "Never Again." (Crowd chants "Never Again")
If you believe that no child deserves to die at the hands of a person pointing a gun at their innocent young faces, please let me hear you say "Never Again." (Crowd chants "Never Again")
If you believe in the wake of the tragedy like Pulse, we as LGBTQI people must stand up like never before. Let me hear you say "Never Again." (Crowd chants "Never Again")
If you believe that the lives lost from gun violence in Columbine, Sandy Hook, Pulse, and now my school were not in vain, let me hear you say "Never Again." (Crowd chants "Never Again")
If you believe that together we will send a clear message to Washington and the world that gun violence will not define our great nation, let me hear you say "Never Again." (Crowd chants "Never Again")
Never Again friends. Never Again will we stand by and watch our kids die. I can promise you that, as a father, as an alum of Douglas, Never Again will we allow it to be us versus them when our families are at stake. Never Again will we just assume our elected officials will do what is right without us continuously holding them accountable. Never Again friends.
Never Again. It is up to us today to march and say "Never Again." Now in a little bit, we have an opportunity to all get up together and get down this street and to march. And I'm hoping that every single one of you will show up. I'm hoping that each of you will call your friends, will call your family members, will call people that you have been scared to reach out to and say just exactly what we just said, "Never Again, this can't happen."
Today is so important. This moment is so important. We are at a crossroads in our country's history, and what we do today and what these brave students are doing by leading us is going to show what happens tomorrow. So, I look forward to marching with all of you later today, and to seeing comprehensive gun legislative change finally happen, and for us to never have to say, "Never Again."
- I AM DC
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