Oprah Winfrey stepped into the philanthropy box Tuesday, joining George and Amal Clooney,in also committing a $500,000 donation and general pledge of support for March for Our Lives in partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. The event is being organized by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Both Clooneys will also participate in the Washington, DC demonstration on March 24, being organized by the surviving students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
"Amal and I are so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School . . . Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we're donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event. Our children's lives depend on it."
The March for Our Lives is organized by Stoneman Douglas students Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind, and Jaclyn Corin, in partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. “I'm just a high school student,” Kasky wrote in a recent op-ed, “and I do not pretend to have all of the answers. However, even in my position, I can see that there is desperate need for change—change that starts by folks showing up to the polls and voting all those individuals who are in the back pockets of gun lobbyists out of office.”
The articulate voices of the students have overwhelmed open-minded adults across America. On Twitter, Winfrey compared the Stoneman Douglas student organizers Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg, Alex Wind, and Jaclyn Corin to the Freedom Riders of the 1960s who “also said we’ve had enough and our voices will be heard.”