Florida & Guns
What has changed since Parkland?
by Constantine Waltz & Alizee Chaudey
Two of the deadliest shootings in the United States’s history have happened here in Florida within the past five years. Since the tragedy that occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where former student and gunman Nikolas Cruz shot and killed seventeen innocent victims in February of 2018, Florida has passed new gun laws and regulations in an effort to protect its children. However, while some concerned citizens, including the families that have been directly impacted by gun violence, have been fighting for gun law reformations; Others seem to be pushing back.
Since Parkland, Florida has implemented three major changes to its gun legislations. Indeed before the tragedy one could purchase a gun before one could purchase a drink, today the minimum age to purchase a firearm has been raised from 18 to 21 years-old. There is now a mandatory three day waiting period when purchasing a gun- meaning one cannot impulsively decide to walk into a store and leave with a fire arm anymore. Additionally, an Extreme Risk Protection law was passed, meaning that if a person is deemed unsafe to themselves or others they can be restricted from buying a gun for up to a year — This was appropriately named the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School public safety act.
But while the security measures in Florida schools have significantly increased since the Parkland shooting, one question remains: how can you prevent these shootings from happening, prior to the point of needing to stop an individual from acting? More attention needs to be paid to preventative mental health measures to help prevent at risk students from committing violent acts. The lack of school counselors and other support services in Florida public schools make it difficult to monitor and intervene when students are at risk. In the case of Nikolas Cruz, many of his former classmates have stated that they experienced him engage in risky and questionable behavior, but very little was done to intervene.
You will find more infographics at StatistaSources:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/14/us/florida-high-school-shooting/index.html
https://www.pilotonline.com/news/article_b3ee844c-5677-5d64-aba1-2208c34e32ec.html
https://www.security.org/blog/a-timeline-of-school-shootings-since-columbine/
A Small Hand for Miami
By Alizee Chaudey
Take a walk in downtown Miami. There’s not a day you won’t see a man sleeping on the street, or a woman looking through a trashcan; People that need help. But who’s actually doing some thing about this? How has the covid19 pandemic impacted the homeless situation in Miami? To find an answer to these questions, I met with two women involved with helping the homeless situation in Miami; Hilda Fernandez, the CEO of Camillus House, a homeless shelter located near midtown, and, Daniela Hernandez, a young activist behind the A Small Hand (ASH) foundation, an organization that feeds the homeless.
The pandemic has impacted the functioning of homeless shelters like Camillus House.“Right now, there is a big demand for shelter people who are living on the streets realize it's very dangerous to be out there right now.” Hilda Fernandez explains. “But at the same time, we want to make sure that we are not exposing the residents who are already here on our campus to infection.” What this means is that the process to get assistance right now takes even longer than it usually would. Individuals have to be placed in quarantine and isolation hotels until they can get tested. And then if they test negative, they're able to come into the shelter - in theory. “I gotta tell you, shelter capacities always maxed out.” Says Hilda Fernandez. With social distancing guidelines imposed by the CDC, already maxed out shelters have seen their housing capacity reduced as preventing the spread of COVID-19 became a priority for homeless shelters. But if the shelters are maxed out, what about the people who have been refused government housing?
Daniela Hernandez decided to take the matter into her own hands and opened the ‘ASH’ Foundation last may. ASH means ‘A Small Hand’, and, with the help of other volunteers and donations acquired on social media, she prepares meals, purchases first necessity items and distributes kits to homeless in multiple neighborhoods in downtown Miami. ASH started handing food out down the bridge outside of Camillus house, “If you just go right outside of the shelter, you see hundreds and hundreds [of homeless people]. They are sitting next to each other, side by side, for miles outside of a shelter where they're supposed to be getting taken care of. So we took the matter into our own hands. These people need help.”
El Proteston Cubano
By Alizee Chaudey
At 8:30am yesterday, the traffic on Coral Way was held up by a caravan of cars and bicycles. As loud honking woke up the neighborhood and Cuban music played out of car’s speakers filled the streets, people stopped to watch the convoy. Every last Sunday of the month, Jorge Medina, a.k.a El Proteston Cubano on Youtube, rallies his community for a caravan in protest of the embargo on Cuba and the current travel ban between Cuba and the United States.
“Today we’re here because we’re tired of seeing Miami have only one discussion about Cubans that think alike,” Says Medina, “here there are Cubans that don’t think alike and want to see change- To cancel the embargo because it hurts all Cubans.” Medina’s caravan, organized with the support of the U.S Hands Off Cuba and Venezuela South Florida Coalition, has allowed Miami’s Cuban democrats to not only find a sense of community, but a place to share their voices.
The U.S Hands Off Cuba and Venezuela South Florida Coalition was founded two years ago, “We were formed in response to the attempts by the US to stage a coup in Venezuela. Since then, because it's so tied up with the offensive against Cuba, we became more involved on both issues.” Explains Peter Seidman, activist. The U.S Hands Off Cuba and Venezuela South Florida Coalition’s position on the subject of the embargo? “Don't take position on what you think of the Government of Cuba, Venezuela, just ‘U.S Hands Off’- you know that the intervention is wrong.” The Coalition decided to collaborate with ‘El Proteston Cubano’ not only because of their similar ideas, but because “he reflects something organic that's growing within the Cuban community of Miami, which we think is very important, because there's a myth that Cubans in Miami are just all reactionary supporters of Trump,” Said Seidman. “We didn't know about the first [caravan], there was 11 people. But we heard [Medina’s] call for the second. There was about 15 bikes and 30 cars. And I expect this one will be much bigger- I’m hoping.”
Peter Seidman was right, the September caravan was the biggest one yet- On September 28th, Cubans of Miami united to demand the right to, above all, see their families.