Parkland Students Protest Clear Backpacks With Tampons And $1.05 Price Tags
When survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting returned to classes after spring break on Monday, they were met with a slew of new security measures, including a widely resented policy: mandatory clear backpacks for everyone.
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting in February, were quick to express their disdain for their new accessory.
Junior Cameron Kasky stuffed his backpack with tampons on Tuesday to protest what students have called an invasion of privacy.
Senior Carmen Lo took a jab at Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and the National Rifle Association by hanging a $1.05 orange price tag on her bag ― the value of the donations Rubio has accepted from the NRA divided by the number of students in Florida. “This backpack is probably worth more than my life,” read a note that Lo had penned and stuffed inside her bag.
#MSDStrong pic.twitter.com/kKn1saUDTC
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) April 3, 2018
This backpack is probably worth more than my life #trends #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/sVAfRbt12R
— Carmen Lo // #NEVERAGAIN (@xo_karmin_ox) April 2, 2018
Starting off the last quarter of senior year right, with a good ol’ violation of privacy! pic.twitter.com/Glf9C14dsq
— Delaney Tarr (@delaneytarr) April 2, 2018
:) @marcorubio pic.twitter.com/eBmB9Tz9uB
— Delaney Tarr (@delaneytarr) April 2, 2018
You know, I feel super safe now that the whole school can see my collection of tampons and pens.
— Delaney Tarr (@delaneytarr) April 3, 2018
Thousands of clear backpacks and lanyards were distributed today at douglas. They’re just an illusion of security. pic.twitter.com/Bz7yaL2cdN
— Kyra Parrow (@longlivekcx) April 2, 2018
And that, they are pic.twitter.com/QuqOt1V4aU
— Kyra Parrow (@longlivekcx) April 2, 2018
The idea of using clear backpacks in schools as a way to prevent gun violence is not new. Schools across the country have enforced similar rules since at least the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.
But Stoneman Douglas students — many of whom have led a national call for stricter gun control — say the measure is only window dressing and does not actually address the problem of gun violence.
“I hate the backpacks, and I think they solve nothing,” Alyssa Goldfarb, a 16-year-old sophomore, told Vice News. “It’s more of a way of the county saying, ‘Hey, we’re doing something.’”
As students pushed back against the new backpack rule this week, Robert Runcie, the superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, said the policy was “an initial measure, not a permanent one.”
He told the Sun-Sentinel that the district may eventually allow other backpacks and that officials were determining the best methods to keep students safe in the long term, including the possible use of metal-detecting wands.
A district spokeswoman told the paper that officials were still exploring the idea of using such wands. “No decision or date has been set for [their] use,” she said.
The people with the power to make changes keep making the wrong changes; no matter how much we tell them to listen to us there will always be a backpack manufacturer saying, "Hey they need clear backpacks, we got you covered,"...
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) April 3, 2018
My new backpack is almost as transparent as the NRA’s agenda.
I feel sooo safe now.
As much as I appreciate the effort we as a country need to focus on the real issue instead of turning our schools into prisons. #clearbackpacks #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/HqBIeGjzF9— Lauren Hogg (@lauren_hoggs) April 2, 2018
This is such a joke. Clear backpacks aren’t going to do ANYTHING, we NEED gun control. #marchforourlives pic.twitter.com/UOk16vKt51
— Alfonso Calderón (@Alfonso_Cal) April 3, 2018
Besides the backpacks, other security measures — including increased police presence and a requirement that students wear an ID tag at all times — have been introduced at Stoneman Douglas since the February massacre.
Though some students say they do feel safer with the new policies in place, several said this week that the school environment now feels stifling and “like jail.”
“I definitely feel safer, but in no way is school going to be a place of cognitive education and creativity when it feels like a jail cell,” junior Jack Macleod told CNN.
So we got clear backpacks today. They never said we couldn’t customize them. pic.twitter.com/QMwC0pAM4v
— Sheryl (Oli) #neveragain (@tsukkiu) April 2, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.