Writing at the Huffington Post, Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman makes the case that it's time to protect kids, not weapons.
Suggested Reading
My friends are dead. I saw the bad man. He was next to me when we ran out." "I played ball with him. Now he is dead." "My friend got killed cause she didn't hide good enough." "Do you think it is my fault?"
These are some of the devastating voices of children from Sandy Hook Elementary School. Elaine Zimmerman, the executive director of the Connecticut Commission on Children, joined by others, has been offering support to children and families in Newtown, Conn., since the shootings at their school in December 2012. She shared these quotes at a recent Harvard Graduate School of Education Askwith Forum where she, PBS NewsHour correspondent and Learning Matters president John Merrow, and I participated in a panel on school violence. Less than 2 percent of fatal gun violence against children takes place at school, but everyone's heart broke with Elaine's as she told the audience, "I am haunted by the child who said, 'There is nothing you can do or say that will convince me that this will not happen again.'"
Read Marian Wright Edelman's entire piece at the Huffington Post.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
Straight From 
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.