PARKLAND SPEAKS

A compilation of firsthand witness and survivor accounts of the Feb. 14, 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that took 17 lives and ignited the March for Our Lives.

Remembering the victims, processing the trauma, sharing their anger, and advocating for lasting change, 43 survivors of the shooting submitted creative work to editor Lerner, an English and journalism teacher and yearbook adviser at MSD. The result is another kind of yearbook, capturing in words and full-color images the terror of the day and the aftermath of grief, loss, hope, and political action. Lerner selected the pieces, which include poems, essays, a letter, a journal entry, speeches, photographs, and original art. While some of the works are not especially polished and overall the contributions vary in artfulness, all are heartfelt. As a whole, the collection makes clear what it was like to hear the gunshots and the victims’ screams, to hide in closets and classrooms, to text frantically to reach friends and family, and later to cope with the return to school, nightmares, and survivor guilt—becoming galvanized into political action.

A valuable primary source document that will be of interest to students and activists today and historians tomorrow.