澳彩开奖

By any measure, it鈥檚 a week steeped in not only the history of racial inequality in America but also in our rich history of activism.

Nowhere is that more evident than at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where students have riveted the country with their pleas for gun reform after the horrific Valentine鈥檚 Day shooting that left 17 students and teachers dead.

The students have relentlessly told their story, organized marches and pressured politicians. Their work 鈥渃onverting grief into power,鈥� as Neeti Upadhye for The New York Times, is part of a powerful legacy of American youth activism.

In 1960, for example, teenagers led the civil rights movement when they conducted at . A year later, young people enduring brutal beatings on the to end racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. Many in the last two weeks have hailed students in Parkland, Florida, as the descendants of those courageous civil rights activists.

But they are not the only 鈥� or even the first 鈥� teens working in the 21st century to end gun violence. In the wake of Trayvon Martin鈥檚 death at the hands of a security guard in 2012, young people mobilized under the name Black Lives Matter to demand reforms very similar to those now being articulated by students in Parkland.

They did not receive the same support or recognition that the nation has given Parkland students in the last two weeks.

鈥淭he way people are responding to predominantly white communities is notable: Whose movement is more valuable to support?鈥� , co-founder of the racial justice group Million Hoodies, asked Sarah Ruiz-Grossman for Huffington Post.

Writing for Teen Vogue, was more direct: 鈥淏lack youth, who鈥檝e been passionately advocating for gun control measures, have been demonized, obfuscated, and overlooked.鈥�

Black young people are disproportionately affected by gun violence, and for years they have been organizing , meeting with , proposing , and holding . They鈥檝e .

Parkland students themselves have聽credited Black Lives Matter for serving as a model for how to demand gun reform, as this week.

"Much of what I鈥檝e done and wanted to do was inspired by Black Lives Matter,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淲e鈥檙e protesting the exact same way and being called heroes just because the majority of us are white. America needs to do better in so many ways.鈥�

The fact that that we have given to students in Parkland should give us pause.

In the wake of unimaginable tragedy, we should celebrate Parkland students鈥� success in calling for such urgently needed reform. At the same time, we have to own up to the nation鈥檚 blind spot when it comes to who gets empathy in America 鈥� and ask the question of whether it is race that makes the difference. 聽

The Editors

P.S. Here are more pieces we think are valuable this week:

• by Silpa Kovvali for Slate
• by Vegas Tenold for Longreads
• by Will Stancil for The Atlantic
• by Melissa Sanchez and Sandhya Kambhampati for ProPublica

澳彩开奖鈥檚 Weekend Read聽is聽a weekly summary of the most important news reporting and commentary from around the country on civil rights, economic and racial inequality, and hate and extremism.聽Sign up to receive the Weekend Read聽every Saturday morning.