George Clooney’s Letter To Parkland Students: “You Make Me Proud Of My Country Again”
On the eve of the March For Our Lives demonstrations planned in Washington, D.C. and across the country, George Clooney penned a message thanking the students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida for what they “are doing to make the country a safer place.”
In a letter published in The Guardian newspaper in London, where three student journalists from Marjorie Stoneman’s award-winning Eagle Eye newspaper will edit the Guardian‘s coverage of the march Saturday in Washington, Clooney writes “Amal and I are 100% behind you and will be marching in DC on the 24th.” He adds, “We both feel very strongly that this is your march. Your moment. Young people are taking it to the adults and that has been your most effective tool.”
In February, George and Amal Clooney donated $500,000 to March For Our Lives – a sum later matched by Oprah Winfrey and others.
You can read Clooney’s letter in full below.
Dear Emma, Lauren, and Rebecca,
Thank you for your note and congratulations on the incredible work you and all of your fellow students are doing to make the country a safer place.
It’s terrific that you’re editing the Guardian. It’s a stellar newspaper and they must feel honored to be working with you.
Amal and I are 100% behind you and will be marching in DC on the 24th, but we both feel very strongly that this is your march. Your moment. Young people are taking it to the adults and that has been your most effective tool. The fact that no adults will speak on the stage in DC is a powerful message to the world that if we can’t do something about gun violence then you will. The issue is going to be this, anyone you ask would feel proud to be interviewed by you but it’s so much more effective if it’s young people.
You could talk to a dozen kids like the young kids from Chicago and LA that Emma met with. You could take over the Guardian and make it tell the stories of children by children. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to point to this moment and say it belongs to you. You certainly should do what you want but that would be my hope for you.
Amal and I stand behind you, in support of you, in gratitude to you.
You make me proud of my country again.
Thank you.
All the best,
George
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