We Stopped Talking About Gun Control – The Shootings Never Stopped

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "We Stopped Talking About Gun Control – The Shootings Never Stopped"

Podcast: How Is This Better?
Host: Akilah Hughes (COURIER)
Guest: Jacqueline Corin (Executive Director, March for Our Lives; Parkland shooting survivor)
Date: June 26, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, host Akilah Hughes speaks with Jacqueline Corin, a survivor of the 2018 Parkland shooting and current Executive Director of March for Our Lives, about America’s ongoing gun violence crisis. The discussion centers on why gun control has faded from the national spotlight despite shootings continuing unabated, and how the movement is reimagining activism—pivoting from marches and legislative appeals to embedding their message into culture, social media, and everyday conversation.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Aftermath of Parkland and Birth of a Movement

• Parkland Shooting Legacy:

  • The 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL remains the deadliest high school shooting in US history (00:53, 02:24).
  • Jacqueline describes the immediate aftermath, her feelings of confusion and survivor's guilt, and how this catalyzed the formation of March for Our Lives (02:24).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 02:24):
    "I really want to do something. I was confused, exhausted, and honestly ridden with a lot of survivor's guilt and wanted to do something with the life that I was lucky to still have."

• From Grief to National Protest:

  • The initial goal of 10,000–20,000 marchers at the 2018 protest ballooned into over 800,000 in DC, with hundreds of sibling marches nationwide (02:24).
  • Jacqueline shares her behind-the-scenes organizing role and legislative lobbying, such as raising Florida’s firearm purchase age and pushing through red flag laws (04:58).

Standing Up to Power—and the Naivete That Helped

• Direct Confrontation with Politicians and NRA:

  • Parkland survivors publicly challenged powerful figures, including Marco Rubio and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch, in the nationally televised CNN town hall (03:40–07:18).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin to Rubio, 06:38):
    “Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?”
  • Rubio refuses to commit, citing his "agenda" (06:56–07:22).

• Being Fearless and Genuine:

  • Their youth was an asset, allowing them to press on without intimidation or cynicism (07:44).
  • Naivete and determination made the movement effective and inspiring for other young activists (07:44–09:18).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 09:18):
    "I always know not to discount kids in high school because they're so powerful. If they put their mind to something, they can get it done."

Why Gun Violence Has Faded from Public Conversation

• Shifting National Priorities:

  • Gun violence, once a top voter issue post-Parkland, has receded amid the COVID pandemic, political division, and a perception of progress under the Biden administration (10:26–12:01).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 10:26):
    "Gun violence often does remain at the center of all of those issues because it is a tool of all types of violence that continue to plague our country."

• Normalization and Desensitization:

  • Shootings no longer garner the same attention; many don’t even make local headlines (12:01).
  • March for Our Lives is working to educate the public that gun violence is now the leading cause of death for American kids and teens—a fact too few know (12:02).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 12:02):
    "People still think it's cars or cancer, but it is firearms. And so just that sheer awareness goes a long way in forcing a conversation back to the table."

Changing Culture, Not Just Policy

• Focus on Embedding the Message in Culture:

  • Legislative change is still a goal (especially at the state level), but the movement’s strategy is shifting to inserting the gun violence discussion organically into everyday cultural conversations (16:22).
  • Quote (Narrator, 16:22):
    "You have to smuggle it in, no pun intended, to cultural moments."

• Examples of Culture-Focused Advocacy:

  • Film & Entertainment:
    • When a recent high-profile movie included a school shooting without warning or discussion, March for Our Lives leveraged the film’s publicity to promote real dialogue and solutions (16:37–18:22).
    • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 18:02):
      “If you're going to feature a theme that young people across the United States are affected by and fearful of every single day, there should be some sort of a warning. And also, if you're going to talk about that in the movie, there should be a productive conversation about solutions in the marketing around the film.”
  • Fashion & Social Media:
    • The Met Gala campaign: Real Housewives' Raquel Chevermont wore a custom bulletproof-vest-inspired dress stating “Gun violence is killing our kids,” strategically staged for maximum paparazzi and social media impact—even though she didn’t attend the gala itself (19:32–21:43).
    • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 21:16):
      “It was able to, you know, have a physical, in person element ... but it also extended far beyond that via socials and traveled far and wide through celebrity channels, fashion channels, different audiences that normally don't engage in our political content.... So another example of how we're trying to shock people back into caring about this, thinking about it, and people went to our platforms and got to learn more about the solutions and what we can do about it.”
  • Upcoming Sports Campaign:
    • The movement will leverage a major sports event this summer to embed its message (19:11, 19:23).

• Digital Adaptability:

  • March for Our Lives’ Gen Z leadership enables rapid adaptation to changing digital trends (22:07–24:53).
  • Focus is now on influencer partnerships, direct-to-camera survivor stories, and culture-driven campaigns, rather than static “flyer” graphics (22:22–24:53).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 24:53):
    "So, I mean, we all understand the power of social media at this point. It's not a surprise, but ... a lot of our content has transitioned into, you know, these more cultural campaigns ... That's, you know, the new way to bring people to the table, especially young people, who is our target audience."

Addressing Gun Myths and Rising Left-Wing Gun Ownership

• Challenging Myths About Guns and Safety:
  • Gun ownership is rising across the political spectrum, influenced by a pervasive (and misleading) belief in firearms as symbols of freedom and safety (13:13).
  • Jacqueline dispels the myth that guns make homes safer, referencing higher rates of accidental shootings, suicides, and misuse (13:13–15:05).
  • Quote (Jacqueline Corin, 13:13):
    "Guns don't make you safer ... homes with firearms experience more violence for a variety of reasons ... Two thirds of all gun deaths in this country are suicides."

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Was the blood of my classmates and my teachers worth your blood money?”
  — Jacqueline Corin (01:18)
• “We just didn't care that we were up against these all-powerful people because we didn't respect their power.”
  — Jacqueline Corin (06:38)
• "March for Our Lives was the first time I realized I could actually do something."
  — Paraphrased from numerous young people Jacqueline has met (08:45)
• “You have to smuggle it in ... to cultural moments.”
  — Narrator (16:22)

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Notable Timestamps for Key Segments

• Parkland Anniversary, March for Our Lives Origin: 00:53–03:40
• CNN Town Hall Confrontation: 06:38–07:22
• Reflections on Youth Activism: 07:44–09:18
• Why Gun Violence Fades from News: 10:26–12:01
• The Myth of Guns as Protection: 13:13–15:05
• Cultural Campaigns—Film Example: 16:37–18:22
• Met Gala Fashion Advocacy: 19:32–21:43
• The Importance of Gen Z Digital Agility: 22:07–24:53

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Conclusion: How Is This (Not Yet) Better?

The fight for gun reform is ongoing. While the headlines and national urgency have faded, March for Our Lives is working to embed the issue deeply into American culture, shifting strategies to connect with young people where they already are—on social media, at movies, events, and through influencers. The path forward may not yield instant legislative results, but Jacqueline and her peers believe that reigniting cultural conversation is essential groundwork for future change.

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Follow March for Our Lives:
Social Media & marchforourlives.org

Listen & Subscribe:
"How Is This Better?" on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other major platforms.

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Transcript

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

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[Jacqueline Corin]

If all our government and president can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it's time for victims to be the

[Narrator / Interviewer]

change that we need to see.

[Jacqueline Corin]

Politicians who sit in their gilded house and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this, we call bs.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

On February 14, 2018, a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida and killed 17 people. It was and still is the deadliest high school shooting in American history. A week later, the students who survived it did something that nobody expected. They didn't go quiet. They went on national television and went toe to toe with the NRA and then Senator, now Trump lapdog Marco Rubio.

[Jacqueline Corin]

I had a question for the NRA and all of you puppet politicians that they are backing. Was the blood of my classmates and my teachers worth your blood money?

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

These drills, Code Reds, active shoot.

[Marco Rubio]

They've been a part of my life

[Jacqueline Corin]

for as long as I can remember. We'd like to know why do we have to be the ones to do this?

[Marco Rubio]

Why do we have to speak out to the Capitol? Why do we have to march on

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Washington just to save innocent lives?

[Narrator / Interviewer]

And from that energy, they built March for Our Lives, an organization that started as one of the largest youth protests in American history. More than eight years later, the country's attention has largely moved on. Even though the shootings haven't stopped, gun violence is the leading cause of death for kids and teens in this country. The shootings have continued. We just stopped acting surprised. So how do you get a generation to care again about an issue that's almost become background noise? My guest today thinks the answer isn't necessarily with a new march, it's through culture.

[Jacqueline Corin]

My name is Jacqueline Corin. I survived the Parkland school shooting when I was just 17 years old. I was a junior at the time. And for those who don't know, although my hometown definitely remains infamous and will continue to be so, it was the site of the deadliest high school mass shooting in American history and still remains that way. Actually, to this day, there were 17 people who were killed and 17 people who were injured. And in the aftermath, I looked around to my friends and I said, I really want to do something. I was confused, exhausted, and honestly ridden with a lot of survivor's guilt and wanted to do something with the life that I was lucky to still have. So we started a little organization called March for Our Lives with the intention of bringing together maybe 10 to 20,000 people in Washington, D.C. but we ended up bringing over 800,000 people to the streets in D.C. and over 800 sibling marches around the country. So we continued the work, have been doing so for the last eight and a half years. And I became the executive director of the organization a little over a year ago, and I've had the pleasure of leading the organization into a new chapter focused on culture change.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

I definitely want to talk about March for Our Lives because, as you mentioned, it's such a success and has so much community support throughout the country. But I guess I have to talk about something that was obviously more painful for you. And so I just want to start by saying, like, thank you for being willing to chat about it. It's obviously deeply traumatizing. And I'll tell you, as somebody who's a bit older than you and, you know, watch the news coverage as it was happening, it's. It's upsetting because it feels like we let young people down, and it's upsetting because it's tragic. And I just. I don't know, I want to be sensitive because obviously, like, I. I don't want you to have to feel like you have to share more than you want to, but this was obviously a very painful time for you. You survived that shooting that we're all aware of. Like you mentioned, 17 were killed. And in the immediate aftermath, a lot of your classmates became national figures, you know, standing up to the gun lobby, including the nra. And there was that CNN town hall that's now sort of infamous. There was a conversation between your classmates and Marco Rubio and Dana Loesch, who was the NRA spokesperson. Can you talk a little bit about what that must have felt like, seeing your classmates being thrust into this national spotlight and having to stand up to adults, professional communicators and spinsters. Like, what was sort of going through your mind when you saw that?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, I mean, we were all a part of the same group. Myself and Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg and so many other students. I was definitely one of the kids who didn't like to stand on the stage and did a lot of the background Work. A big part of my contribution to the early days was being the behind the scenes operational leader. Actually, while they were at the CNN town hall that night, I was up in Tallahassee with a hundred of my classmates lobbying the legislature for what would become the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety act, which rose the age to buy a firearm from 18 to 21 in the state of Florida and also passed red flag laws in the state of Florida that have since saved thousands of lives in the eight and a half years they've been installed. And I remember the early days of my friends starting to go really viral. And it was surreal and also bizarre because we were suddenly getting so much attention as a group and also watching my. My friends become individually celebrities in their own right. But at the end of the day, we were just kids. Yeah, I think that's actually what made us all feel really grounded through it all and also fearless through it all, because we had an end goal in mind, which was succeeding to honor our friends who were killed. We didn't care about the fact that there was a US Senator standing before us. We didn't care that we were up against these all powerful people because we didn't respect their power.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Right.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

How could you?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Right, exactly. Because they didn't steward it. Well, Senator Rubio, can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA in the future?

[Marco Rubio]

No. The answer to the question is that people buy into my agenda. And I do support the Second Amendment and I also support the right of you and everyone here to be able to go to school and be safe. Safe. And I do support any law that would keep guns out of the hands of a deranged killer. And that's why I support the things that I have stood for and fought for during my time here. More NRA money.

[Jacqueline Corin]

More NRA money.

[Marco Rubio]

That is the wrong way to look. First of all, the answer is people buy into my agenda.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

You get a second.

[Marco Rubio]

Well, I.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Rubio never said no, of course. I mean, he couldn't at that point. He had an A rating from the lobbying group, and over his career, he's taken millions from the nra. And that night, in front of grieving children, the best he could offer was a brag that the group, quote, bought into his agenda.

[Jacqueline Corin]

And I also think there was a naivete that actually helped us because I think we all just didn't fully understand how large of a system we were up against, so we just went for it. And I think that was what made us so successful at the start is when you're older and have a better understanding of these deep systemic issues. You, you try to go at things slowly and strategically, but sometimes just going all in and being real and asking the really hard questions in a way that many might deem inappropriate, but we just didn't care. And it honestly also became kind of like a game. It was fun to watch these incredibly powerful people get scared to talk with us and meet with us. And I think that sheer fact inspired so many of the other kids and young people who ended up organizing their own marches or starting their own March for Our Lives chapters and clubs at their schools, organizing their own walkouts. And still to this day, I meet hundreds of other people around my age and they say, March for Our Lives was the first time I realized I could actually do something. And so it continues to be surreal, especially now that I'm 25 years old. So still young, but not as young looking back and saying, oh my God, those 16, 17 year old children did that. And I always know not to discount kids in high school because they're so powerful. If they put their mind to something, they can get it done.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Now those 16 and 17 year olds are adults. They survived Covid through their early college years. And after he handled that like this,

[Jacqueline Corin]

I see the disinfectant, where it knocks

[Interviewer / Co-host]

it out in a minute, one minute.

[Jacqueline Corin]

And is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Because you see it gets on the

[Jacqueline Corin]

lungs and it does a tremendous number of lungs. So it'd be interesting to check that so that you're going to have to use medical doctors.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

They're now like the rest of us, living through Donald Trump's second administration, where he continues to suck the oxygen from the entire country.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

You know, it seems like gun violence prevention, specifically efforts to make it harder to like, purchase, own, possess military grade assault rifles, maybe hasn't lost steam in recent years, but certainly post Covid has sort of become like, once again in this country a back burner issue, or at least like, you know, there's so much happening politically right now that we're just not having it in the conversation as much. Does that resonate with you and why do you think that is? And how do you sort of think we, you know, get it back on, you know, the main docket?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, I think the phenomenon that you're describing is absolutely real. Back in 2018, 2019, in the March for our Lives era, gun violence was the number one issue that young people were going to the polls for and was on, you know, the minds of the whole country. But things change, of course, as they always do. And I think Covid also changed the focus of the political conversation. And also under the Biden admin, there was a lot of progress. And so there was a sense that, okay, we have someone in office who prioritizes this issue now. The Biden admin instituted an Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the White House, which was a huge step forward in recognizing that this issue deserves federal infrastructure and coordination. But I think there are so many issues that now pull our attention and every which way all of the time. And gun violence often does remain at the center of all of those issues because it is a tool of all types of violence that continue to plague our country. So I think a big challenge of the movement is getting over this time period where gun violence is not as much of a political and social priority for folks. Sadly, it's become so normalized that the shootings that happen every single day in this country that would have gotten national coverage even seven, eight years ago don't even make their local newspaper anymore.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Right.

[Jacqueline Corin]

And so a big focus of March for Our Lives is trying to snap people back into it and say, hey, look, this issue continues to affect us. And actually we're doing a lot this year to educate people about the fact that gun violence is the number one cause of death for American kids and teens. Something that a lot of people don't know. People still think it's cars or cancer, but it is firearms. And so just that sheer awareness goes a long way in forcing a conversation back to the table.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Absolutely.

[Jacqueline Corin]

That's a big focus of ours, especially ahead of the midterm elections this year. Making sure people get back into the habit of asking their candidates what they're going to do about gun violence in their communities is a big need and a big focus for us and also a recommendation that we give to all of our audience members to do. As November slowly approaches and you know,

[Interviewer / Co-host]

sort of speaking of the political situation we're in, you know, there's been some reporting recently that gun ownership on the left is also on the rise.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

What do you make of that?

[Interviewer / Co-host]

You sort of get the full picture. And I'm. I'm just completely like, what are we doing now? What's the move?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, unfortunately, we live in a country with an education system that distorts our history. We all know that. And over the last 250 years, guns have systemically been marketed as symbols of freedom and self protection. And I think no matter where you are on the political spectrum, we all can fall victim to that false notion because the reality is that guns don't make you safer. You know, people often think that it can help prevent someone from coming into your home and stealing something while you're sleeping. But the reality is that homes with firearms experience more violence for a variety of reasons. One, because you might end up hurting yourself if you don't have the proper training. Two, if you don't lock it up properly, someone in your home can get access to it and either purposefully or accidentally hurt themselves or others. That's often why we see incidents of accidental shootings by a three year old killing their four year old brother, right? And so for all of those reasons, guns don't make us safer with an especial focus on suicide. Two thirds of all gun deaths in this country are suicides. And often if you have a gun in the home and you're experiencing suicidal ideation, your attempt is going to be more lethal if you use a firearm than any other means. So a big focus is making sure that people can move past the myth that guns make you safer, and also making sure that guns are not continued to be sold as this vision of masculinity, of freedom, of all these different things that I think people on the left are also falling victim to these days.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

When we come back, how do you make a country care about something it's learned to ignore? Jacqueline's answer. Meet them where they already are in the conversations they're already having.

[Marco Rubio]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

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[Narrator / Interviewer]

Here's the bet March for Our Lives is making under Jacqueline's leadership. You can't wait for tragedies to get common sense gun reform discussions going to get people's attention and bring the issue back to the fore. You have to smuggle it in, no pun intended, to cultural moments.

[Jacqueline Corin]

The big thing that we're doing this year under my leadership is focusing on cultural change. Of course, there's always going to be the policy change work that we do. You know, advocating for laws in different states around the country. Although there's not a lot happening on the federal level, there's still a lot of forward momentum in the states. But trying to insert our message into conversations that are already happening. And I'll give you a few examples of how we're doing that and how we're going to ramp that effort up as the midterms near. So, for example, a few months ago, the movie, the drama came out starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Love them. I didn't see the movie, to be quite frank, but I did a lot of deep research about what it was about, and I won't spoil the whole thing, but there are themes of a school shooting, and the film clearly intentionally did not include a sort of warning that those themes were going to be featured in. In the film book. I understand there's obviously the need for an element of surprise, but my perspective was that if you're going to feature a theme that young people across the United States are affected by and fearful of every single day, there should be some sort of a warning. And also, if you're going to talk about that in the movie, there should be a productive conversation about solutions in the marketing around the film.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Right.

[Jacqueline Corin]

And unfortunately, A24, the studio and all the associated creatives involved in the project didn't engage with that.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Mostly about the wedding. A lot of wedding stuff, they're like, it's about a fun wedding. And I'm like, I don't know if it is.

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, right. And look, Zendaya looked beautiful.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Right? Always. But still.

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, but still. And so we strategically used the energy and attention around the movie to move forward a productive conversation about gun violence, its solutions. And that was a period of, you know, more engagement than we usually get as an organization, which showed us that sometimes it's easier actually to insert yourselves into conversations that are already happening in language that young people know. We always are talking about meeting people where they are, but, like, never really defining what that actually looks like. But I think this is an example of what that looks like. It's talking about how our issue is showing up in these cultural spaces very naturally and organically, because it is an issue that plagues us so deeply. And stewarding a productive conversation forward.

[Podcast Host / Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jacqueline Corin]

Trying to do more of that, especially with the midterms. We have an exciting campaign coming this summer around a big sports event that's coming to the U.S. ooh.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Yeah. I can only assume.

[Jacqueline Corin]

But getting excited about this new approach that we have that I think, frankly, a lot of progressive movement spaces could benefit from as well.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Yeah, totally. And, I mean, there's another great example. The Met just happened. The. Yeah, the Met Gala, and you all were involved. Can you talk a little bit about what your strategy was there?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yes. This was another campaign I was really proud of. Another, you know, cultural event that happens every year that we know there's going to be a lot of eyes on, a lot of social media attention. Energy is, of course, the Met Gala. And we thought, you know, what if we got a celebrity to wear a dress that called attention to the ongoing public health crisis that is gun violence? And so we went looking for a celebrity and also a designer, both of whom would really feel passionate about the issue and embody, you know, the energy we need to end it. And we found a wonderful woman named Raquel Chevermont, who is one of the Real Housewives of New York City, as well as a wonderful designer named Clarence Ruth. And he created a custom dress that had a bodice that featured a bulletproof vest element. And on the front of the vest, it said, gun violence is killing our kids. And Raquel wore the dress. She actually. I'll give your audience a bit of a sneak peek into how we made it all happen. Yeah. We didn't actually have her go to the Met Gala itself, but there are a few different hotels in the general Upper east side area where all the celebrities get ready and they come downstairs and there's a ton of paparazzi ready to take photos. And because she was a celebrity, we went around showing people that she was coming down next.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

Yes.

[Jacqueline Corin]

And we got all of the same paparazzi and attention that she would have gotten if she actually attended the Met Gala.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

That's huge.

[Jacqueline Corin]

It was able to, you know, have a physical, in person element where all the people who were watching her come outside were reminded of this cause. But it also extended far beyond that via socials and traveled far and wide through celebrity channels, fashion channels, different audiences that normally don't engage in our political content. I put quotes around political because it's not supposed to be political.

[Marco Rubio]

Right.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

But some people make it that way.

[Jacqueline Corin]

But some people make it that way. And therefore, we had millions of people who wouldn't normally see our content suddenly be reminded of this issue. So another example of how we're trying to shock people back into caring about this, thinking about it, and people went to our platforms and got to learn more about the solutions and what we can do about it. So another example of what we're doing to create culture change over here.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Totally.

[Interviewer / Co-host]

And I mean, I think that you all are kind of perfectly positioned being Gen Z, being like native to the Internet, understanding that like, attention is sort of everything. And so in your role now, I guess, how do you see, you know, that as a benefit?

[Jacqueline Corin]

Yeah, I think we definitely have a benefit of being a young team and just like a youth focused initiative because I am constantly watching, not just for my job, but just because I am a young person in the world, how we share information and how that is changing so rapidly. The way in which, you know, accounts on social media that were really popular, whether influencers or sort of media focused accounts that were super popular two years ago, even one year ago, are not as popular now because the ways people want to engage with content change so quickly. And I think we're able to adapt to those changes really fast because we're young and nimble and understand that you have to be quick in order to continue to make an impact and reach people. So, I mean, social media has always been a critical part of March for Our Lives successful. The reason why we were able to get 800,000 people to D.C. was because we were all shit posting on Twitter all the time, frankly, you know, that got us media hits and attention and celebrities and so, I mean, we all understand the power of social media at this point. It's not a surprise, but I think the fact that a lot of our content has transitioned into, you know, these more cultural campaigns like we were discussing, but more photos and videos. We also have a dedicated series on our channel that is a bunch of direct to camera videos of survivors telling their stories. Sort of like how influencers talk to the camera in a, in the same visual way that they can scroll and recognize that form of content. Whereas there's a sort of expired, you know, nonprofit approach to communicating information via these flyers that I just don't think engage people as much. And that's, you know, the new way to, to bring people to the table, especially young people, who is our target audience. So, you know, we're never going to be perfect, but we're always striving for perfection. And it's been really exciting too, to see that our adaptation in the digital and social world has also attracted other influencers to partner with us. And you know, we're not a brand that can give them $10,000 a pop, but we are a mission driven nonprofit that wants to genuinely collaborate with creators as equals with an understanding that we both care about the same cause. So I think partnering with content creators is also a big piece of the puzzle.

[Narrator / Interviewer]

Eight years ago, a group of teenagers who had every reason to retreat from the spotlight forced on them stepped into it to make a change. By their own account, they didn't fully grasp who and what they were up against when they confronted politicians in the powerful gun line lobby. And that, as Jacqueline said, turned out to be useful. Their bravery helped turn gun violence into one of the biggest political issues in the country. But attention is fleeting. The march has ended. The headlines moved on. What struck me, talking to Jacqueline, is that March for Our Lives isn't trying to recreate 2018. I mean, they know they can't. The question they're asking now is different. How do you get people to care about a crisis they've gotten used to ignoring? Their answer is culture. Not waiting for the next tragedy to force a conversation, but finding ways to bring that conversation into the places people are already paying attention Movies, sports, fashion and social media. So how is this better? Well, it's not. Not yet. Gun violence is still the leading cause of death for American kids and teens. The problem hasn't gone away, but the people fighting it haven't gone away either. They've adapted. And if Jacqueline is right, finding new ways to bring this issue back into popular discourse may be the first step toward common sense reform. I want to thank Jaclyn Coren for coming on today. Follow March for Our Lives on social [e-mail], and as always, please subscribe to this show on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a comment, Leave us a review, Tell a friend and I'll see you next time. How Is this Better? Is a production of Courier. It's written and hosted by me, Akilah Hughes. It is produced by Devin Maroney. Video editing is by Shane Verkus. The rest of the team at Courier includes Marianne Kuga, Sam Hollows, and Charlotte Robertson. Please subscribe to follow how is this Better? On all the platforms, YouTube, Apple, podcasts, Spotify, etc and tell someone about your favorite episodes. If you're interested in sponsoring episodes or giving us products to try and try to sell, reach out to advertiseurriornewsroom.com thanks for listening and until next time, see ya.

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