Let’s not sugarcoat it. For the last two weeks, the survivors of the grisly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have been effectively told to shut up. That’s essentially what right-wing trolls are doing by claiming that they’re “crisis actors”–fake survivors trucked in to gin up support for gun control. And it’s also essentially what other wingnuts are saying when they claim that these kids are being fed talking points from CNN.
Among those joining the bullying parade is black conservative pastor Jesse Lee Peterson. Frankly, it wasn’t all that surprising. After all, this is a man who thinks Donald Trump is a shining example of what a real man should be.
What is surprising, though, is how virulent he has been. Last week, he claimed that the push to end the NRA-imposed inertia on gun laws is being led by “dumb children” who are being played like violins by Democrats, the media, and other “children of the lie.” Oh, the horror! Teenagers speaking coherently and articulately about the issues affecting them, and daring to call out the GOP and the NRA? That can’t possibly be real!
Peterson hasn’t let up this week. On Monday, he took to Twitter to double down on his claim that Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez, Sarah Chadwick, Delaney Tarr, David Hogg, Lauren Hogg, and their friends were being indoctrinated by radical libruls.
I’m sure there are radical teachers at the school & probably coached by #CNN & leftist activists. #MarjoryStonemanDouglas school was founded by a radical environmentalist & feminist. She was also agnostic & suffered from mental illness. https://t.co/0fZmgvwuPU
— Jesse Lee Peterson (@JLPtalk) February 26, 2018
People are asking how some of the kids at #MarjoryStonemanDouglas school became radicalized by leftist ideology. The school was founded by a radical environmentalist & feminist. She was also agnostic & suffered from mental illness. #CNN #NRAforlife
— Jesse Lee Peterson (@JLPtalk) February 26, 2018
So speaking up for keeping guns out of the hands of people who have no business having them is a sign that you’ve been influenced by “radical teachers” and “radicalized by leftist ideology”? Lovely.
For good measure, Peterson took a cheap shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Douglas High’s namesake. She was best known as one of the leading voices for preserving the Everglades. Indeed, she’d gained enough notoriety for her fight against draining and developing the Everglades that the school was named for her when it opened in 1990. When she died in 1998, then-Governor Lawton Chiles hailed her as a “prophet” for her efforts to open Floridians’ eyes to “what we were doing to our quality of life.”
From where I’m sitting, these kids are carrying on Douglas’ legacy of speaking truth to power. If Peterson and others are trying to pillory them for that, they should take it as a compliment.
(featured image courtesy Peterson’s Facebook)
