After the 2016 election, the past 1½ years have seen an unprecedented uptick in local and state level activism.
Campaigns for state officials have enjoyed an influx of new volunteers. The special election for the Alabama Senate seat in December saw a 40 percent voter turnout, far exceeding expectations.
Millions have participated in Women’s Marches, a Climate March, a March for Science, and countless others. Students across the country have organized walkouts, marches, and other local actions to bring attention to school shootings and demand tighter gun legislation in the #NeverAgain movement.
As a student who has been active in many of these local efforts, and most recently as a member of the Pioneer Valley Students for Gun Control, I find that I’m often asked why I dedicate my energies to local political action. Local and state level activism can seem futile, having little effect on the federal level.
The recent nationwide student walkouts for gun control incited serious backlash, not just among those who support the Second Amendment, but also among liberals who saw these local efforts as a waste of time. Local activism, and more specifically, small-scale action in the fight for gun control, is vital to creating change on a national level.
In the #NeverAgain movement, small groups of students organized school walkouts to protest a lack of comprehensive gun legislation. Though seemingly small in scope, these walkouts have combined into a force that gained significant media coverage, pushed states like Massachusetts to consider legislation for tighter gun control, and caused corporations like Delta Airlines and Starkey to cut ties with the National Rifle Association.
Individual walkouts have been criticized for being pointless, but the #NeverAgain movement they make up has made real change. Local activism may feel small, or in the Valley, like preaching to the choir. However, local political action is necessary for the success of broader, national movements.
Join the Pioneer Valley Students for Gun Control in a March for Our Lives in Northampton on March 24 and support the #NeverAgain movement in putting a stop to our country’s school shooting epidemic.
Elaina Katz
Florence