 This is your host Beatriz Cantelmo. We all want to be safe and secure, and to live without fear. And that is a human right that we all have. However, in the U.S., gun violence is an epidemic that directly threatens these rights, and we have reached a point where this is an issue that must be addressed as a human rights crisis. A staggering number of people are killed with guns in the United States every year. More than 30,000 men, women and children are killed by guns every year in the United States. Among high-income countries, the United States accounts for 80% of all gun deaths in the world. Yes, you heard it right. 86% of all women are killed by guns, and 87% of all children younger than 14 are killed by guns in the United States. African-American, Latinos, and Native Americans are disproportionately killed by gun violence in this country as well. What fuels this epidemic? Federal, state, and local governments are not meeting obligations under their international law to protect people's safety because laws on guns in the United States are inconsistent and weak. None of us are exempt from being a victim of gun violence, not even here in the state of Hawaii, where we have one of the best gun control laws in the nation. Today, we are graced with the presence of two amazing students and activists, Taylor McKenzie, who is a senior at Sacred Hearts Academy of Honolulu, and Sarah Katino, a Uaichi Manoa student. And the Hawaiian students are standing in solidarity in support of Parkland students, staff and parents on March 14th, to say never again. And again, a march in our lives for March on March 24th. Today's discussion will shift this focus from gun control to the rights we all have to live free from violence and fear, and on common sense legislation at the state and federal levels that can protect everyone from gun violence. This is a student-led and community-driven movement of thousands of individuals who demand that their human rights to be safe and protected from gun violence happens in the United States. On that note, welcome to our program. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Absolutely. What an honor. So I always start the show by giving our viewers a little perspective about where you come from and what you're up to in your school and how did you get involved with this movement. So I'm going to start with you, Taylor. Okay. I got really inspired talking to the other students at my school. We really wanted to do something because we're the same age as the victims of the Parkland shooting. And this is something that affects us even though in Hawaii we're so apathetic to what is happening on the mainland that I think that some friends and I, we really wanted to make a difference. And that's why I reached out to Sarah on the Women's March website. And that's how I got connected to this. That is wonderful. What about you, Sarah? How awesome is that? Yeah. I got involved with this movement in particular. About two months ago I had Scarlett Lewis come to speak to our classroom at UH and she's one of the mothers of a six-year-old boy that was murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And when you meet a parent that lost a kid at six years old, it's hard to not feel connected to that person and feel like you should do something to change it if you are in the position to do it. And my whole adult life this far has been to put myself in a position to be the change. Instead of just talking about it, I feel that it's important to get out there and do things and to get the education that you need to be able to do that. And when the Parkland shooting happened, Women's March had created a Facebook page to reach out and formulate walkouts for students in high schools. And I just went out there and said, hey, I'll help. I don't know how I can be of service, but I'm down to do it. And that's kind of how I met this smart high schooler right here. So let's talk about all the students who really also came together here in Hawaii and said we wanted to be really the leading organizing and voice and asking for community support for this movement to happen here. So you have all the schools and all the students who have been involved in the core organizing of the events that we're going to be having on Oahu? Yeah, I think that a lot of high schools, middle schools and even elementary schools are getting involved. And it's really like the most grassroots of a grassroots organization I've ever seen. It started with something short on Facebook and having people reach out and putting an email out there and saying if you want to get involved and just last week we had the meeting and over 40 people came just for the planning meeting for the March 14th walkout at UH. Their school's on break that week so we invited any students who are on spring break during the week of the 14th to come to our event at UH Manoa on the 14th, 10 o'clock in the morning. And from that we've had students from Kaiser High School. Just yesterday I spoke with an eighth grader at Moanalua Middle School and they're doing a walkout. Their school actually changed standardized testing or I'm not sure if it was standardized but they changed test scheduling for the 14th and the bell schedule so that they'd be able to walk out in solidarity with the rest of the students. And that's wonderful. And I was going to ask you, Taylor, and for you too, Sarah, I don't interject anytime. You have made a remark in your initial statement about the apathy that you saw initially from students in response to gun violence on the mainland. So my question to you is why do you think this is happening here in Hawaii and what can students and the community do to support schools and also students and parents to be more educated and engaged actively to get the world out too? I think that what's most important is to start having conversations to talk to people about this. This is an issue that we believe that we're safe from in Hawaii because we do have some of the best gun legislation in the United States but there's just a threat at mid-Pacific high school and last year at UH, we're not immune to this. We're not immune to gun violence. No one is. And I think that what really impacted me was I have a friend at my school and she called me in the early morning just she was so upset and she was like, oh my God, we need to do something. This is not right. And I was like, yeah, we do. Because so often at my school we have discussions and we talk about how this is terrible but we don't do anything more. It ends with a discussion and I think that's why the second step after you start talking to people is to do something to reach out to do what I did with Sarah to just email people to connect over social media because that is the power of social media and that's the power of people my age. We have this ability right at our fingertips to connect with anyone across the world and I think that's really why this is happening now is because not only is it youth led it's connecting to everyone through the media. Exactly. And I think you touched on a very important point of this false sense of security that we have here in Hawaii of being immune from having our youth impacted by gun violence and the truth of the matter is it can happen to anyone of us and yes I think it is up to students under our youth and everyone in the community to demand that our representatives at the local level and at the federal level create stricter laws for gun control and reform as well so that all of us are safe. And students and young people have enough to worry about going to school and with from home stuff and school work and having jobs in high school and all this other stuff that going to school and when you're sitting in a classroom and the door opens your first thought shouldn't be like I hope that we're okay and I know for me that there's times that that definitely happens or when somebody's walking down the hallway when class is in session there's that sense of unease and that shouldn't be you know we like to think that we live in such a wonderful country and place that we can live freely but when you sit in a classroom and you're trying to get an education and you're distracted from what your classmates or your professors are saying because of footsteps in the hallway I mean how is that? Conducer to learning or even wellness Exactly. So my question to you even though we do get the sense that students in Hawaii feel a little bit isolated and safe how have these shootings on the mainland impacted you emotionally as a student as you are more aware and what would make you feel safer and your peers safer in your school setting and in your community? I take the bus who went from school and I found myself after the shooting looking around these kids who were my age and younger and thinking about what would happen if a shooter came on the bus I mean there isn't many exits there aren't we would be stuck and I just I think I would feel a lot safer knowing that there is no possibility of that happening there's no possibility of that happening anywhere in the U.S. And I think that the solution is multifaceted right and everybody says I've been getting some backlash lately and they're like well what's the solution how are you gonna you know solve this problem and I don't think that it's any one answer and I think that it's obviously more gun control sorry people don't want to hear it but it's the truth and we have to look into that we have to at least be willing to look into that fact and decide where that goes we have gun laws that have been written for much less than 17 students and their faculty being killed in a school and why we're so quick to just turn that down and say absolutely not it must be something else well it might be something else but it might be that too and why not you know change the culture around gun violence and change the culture and how we speak with other individuals and teach our kids to be loving and compassionate when they're young and sure if you want to talk about mental health we can we can go that route too but we know that that's not really the issue here but it would be all of those things and right now we're kind of at a stalemate we're getting small victories especially today in Florida but the fact that so many people are just like nope don't want to talk about it can't take our guns and we're like well I want to get an education and I don't want you know this girl to go to school tomorrow and and that be the last day right and you know there's a big difference between the second amendment rights of carrying a concealed weapon which was you know something that was defined so many decades ago where there were no AR-15s and K-47s so I don't think that as a nation you know any civilized or uncivilized you know so there is room for anyone to carry guns and munitions that are designed for war you know and it's so easily accessible by civilians you know because at the end of the day you have to look at the source of you know and how easy it is to get these machines and on all of the carnage that happens year after year Columbine is just having its 20th anniversary I think it's like next month April 20th and to think that 20 years later we are still here dealing with the same issues and this cannot be normalized and I think that this movement of enough is enough you know it's very in the right time I would argue that it's past the right time that it should have happened 19 years ago when the Columbine shooting happened it should have happened last month it should have happened years ago this is way past the time and it's sad that we're still dealing with this and I honestly think that if the Founding Fathers did see the type of weapons that we have today that they wouldn't have included the Second Amendment they would have changed it in a way that protected everyone because we are the nation of the free and I have the freedom to go to school and not be afraid and that should trump anyone's desire to have a gun and I think that really we need to start looking at that when we look at our gun legislation we have to see what our priorities are is it education or is it people's right to have a gun and more importantly education is very important but is it people's safety at stake that is what should be priority everybody's safety fast and not protecting gun rights and there's a disconnect so we're going to take a quick break and jump right in again alright sounds good yay aloha my name is Mark Shklav I'm the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea Law Across the Sea comes on every other Monday at 11am please join us I like to bring in guests that talk about all types of things that come across the sea to Hawaii not just law people ideas history please join us for Law Across the Sea aloha hello I'm Dave Stevens host of the Cyber Underground this is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind so come join us every week here on thinktechawaii.com 1pm on Friday afternoons and then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube all our shows show up and please follow us we're always giving you current relevant information to protect you keep in you safe aloha aloha welcome back to Perspectives on Global Justice Think Tech Hawaii program this is your host, Beatriz Gattavo and we are back with Taylor Mackenzie and with Sarah Cattino so we were talking about the United States Second Amendment and in 2018 we may need a little adjustment in interpretation of it so who would like to speak fast on that? I'll go I would like to start off by saying when the Constitution was written us three women wouldn't be sitting in this room discussing the laws that we're having anyway so clearly we make amendments and we ratify them when we feel like they're what's right for the country and for the people of the country not the lobbyists of the country not the NRA and I think that just the fact that we progress as a nation that's supposed to be one of the amazing things of America and a democracy is being able to have a say in what goes on and be able to vote for the things that you want and make progress and forward progress and we don't want to go back and I know I think of that the whole happenstance is making a lot of people in the country uneasy and I think that's why there's so much polarization and there's so much opposite their opposition and it's hard to meet in the middle right now especially but we need to say something's not working and we can look at the Second Amendment and say well when the founding fathers the Second Amendment was put in place for militias right it wasn't of course it says for an individual to have their arms and have a militia you know these things are different today if the government was coming to take us over and we've seen governments take over a people many times with or without guns you know your AR-15 at your house isn't going to stop them anyway you know there's a reason why flamethrowers are illegal and we don't have tanks in our backyard you know there's just a line that needs to be drawn somewhere you know and when the AR-15 and then the M16 for the military during Vietnam they were made literally to cause more damage to go into a human person and destroy them it wasn't you know made for protection in your home it was made to kill the most people possible and why that fact is so hard for some people to to see and acknowledge and then say okay alright maybe we can make a little bit of a difference here you know yes yes I would like to add something to that I think it's sad that when people think of the United States of America they think of fast food and gun violence is that what we want to be known for it's there's so many other things that are incredible about us this is women's history month March and I have seen girls from high schools all across Hawaii just come together and and that's what we should be known for we should be known for collaboration and that's sad that's not what we're seeing and that when we think of the history that we want to create now how do we want to be remembered I don't think and I think to bring it to a micro perspective too we need to look at countries that are in the middle of conflicts and wars and that you all know that these individuals you know like families and children I mean are really a massacre you know and that these guns are organized and we all have these images you know that's so gruesome of gun you know violence and fatalities and this is what we are actually fighting for by protecting the second amendment of the constitution the way it is right now and that we need to start making those connections I actually come from Brazil where and I was raised that in the city near Rio de Janeiro and in my campus when I was a medical student we had actually physicians coming from Iraq in the 90s and the early 90s to learn how we were handling gun wounds shots of individuals who were injured by AR-15 and AK-47 guns it's not pretty you know when you see all the countries and actually Rio de Janeiro is a very interesting place for the world to look at it especially the United States right now because we've been dealing with this level of gun violence for the past 30 years where these weapons have been in the hands of civilians and unfortunately also of individuals who commit crimes and so life becomes very disposable and we have the numbers equivalent of civil war every year well you know like a couple of years ago we had 33,000 individuals who were killed by gun violence in the country alone and that's unacceptable and I really hope that in the United States that everybody every state every community really becomes unified and really work with solutions and regardless of political affiliation you know there's about everyone's safety and wellness you know so let's talk about March 14th what do you have planned for your campus and for your school and what do you know is happening for our island with other schools and also for other islands so I know so for UH Manoa we are having it's a student-led walk out at 10 a.m. we have asked well the Parkland students have initially asked and we're kind of following their lead to get up and leave your classroom and we're asking that they walk to the Bachman lawn which is essentially the front lawn of UH Manoa we have invited any students that don't have a home that day that are on spring break to come the walk out is from 10 a.m. until 10 17 a.m. on Wednesday March 14th but at UH I keep saying since we're the big kids and we get to make a little bit more of our own decisions we're going to kind of have a rally there until one o'clock and we're urging younger people to come and get involved and there's going to be a ton of organizations if you need help to like register for voting we can have people there helping for that and just to get involved in this movement because March 24th is what 10 days later and that's going to be where all of the schools come together and all of the students for that meeting and the community just what do you have planned in your campus in your school well I'm one of the school students today was my last day of school I'm on spring break now so yes I'm so glad to be here so yeah I'm meeting with people and we're trying to get a group of us to come to UH I'm very happy to be invited there my friend and I will be saying speeches and trying to really empower the high school students who are able to come to the march I've been reaching out to different schools to see if they are on spring break if they want to do something because I think it is sort of I don't know it's kind of like it makes you feel smaller when it's like you're on spring break but you want to have a walk out so we're very happy that we'll be able to go to UH I was just going to say I think it's important to say that the 14th is kind of the first day of the activation of the movements and the 14th is for the walk out to memorialize the 17 people that lost their lives but to bring awareness that on the 24th you know we're marching again on the April 20th a lot of students are doing something for the anniversary of the Columbine shooting right now in Hawaii we have the bump stock band going through legislation we're trying to bring awareness to that the NRA has specifically asked that people fight against it here in Hawaii so we're asking specifically that you fight for it exactly it is very interesting because we actually are in one of those very special states we're already in very good shape with our legislation but even to go further it sets the tone also for other states what kind of halfway through or who may be wanting to look at a state that's been modeling the example that we should follow so I want to talk to you both about and part of this movement has to do with education and mobilization and gathering together of course and just like in any movement if you think about civil rights movement for example the voting aspect of it might have a big difference because we can half and puff and talk about as much as we want but what we want and think we wish to see happening at a legislative level either locally statewide or fairly however we hit the road running when it comes down to constituency, civic engagement and the power of voting so I would like to hear both of your perspectives on that so Mackenzie may I ask how old you are I'm actually 17 and when people ask me what are you most excited for I'm like I get to vote and I get to vote like soon so let's talk about that because this is going to be your first time voting registered so there is that power of registration so like now that you're starting to engage in civic engagement as a very young voter what has been your process to learn about the political platform of candidates about your choice in process and what do you want any politician who is either in the house right now or thinking about running for a position what do you want him or her to hear from you as a voter oh well as a new voter it's kind of exciting to think that we are the next generation of voters and we do have power and we have a different perspective than previous generations of voters so I guess I'd like to say also that for me it's been sort of an interesting process which about politics about a year ago two years ago maybe and then presidential elections came and I was like wow this is not right what's happening what's being said that's not normal and I would ask the adults and they're like I'm sorry that this is the first presidential election you'll remember I was really young when Obama was elected and I never really cared at the time I guess I was too young it is interesting to me to think that people my age it's like they're growing up in this Trump presidency and it's hard not to care about politics it's hard not to either choose sides to argue and I think that what's important now is that we do keep the conversation going we don't just say well I'm a Democrat so I'm gonna vote for this I'm gonna believe that and I think that right now what's such an issue is this partisanship and that that's what needs to stop and I think that voters in my generation and our generation is gonna end that is gonna be able to say that even though you're a Republican you don't have to vote for this person you can vote for what you believe in that's a very good point we have very few seconds left what would you like to tell to our politicians as a young voter what I would like to say to our politicians honestly honestly yeah watch out because we're growing up and we're the next generation and this is the next generation and I cannot be like more proud of these kids and these students and I think that a lot of us grew up with Obama as our president and saw forward progress and change and you're not gonna be able to push us back at all and we're gonna keep you know the momentum's coming and yeah well straight from the young adults and children's mouths so I could not have a better way to end this program I hope that both of you come back for follow-up episodes and if you want us to come back absolutely bring your friends can I say hi to my brother he said I better get a shout out thank you so very much and that concludes our episode of Perspectives on Global Justice for today and see you next Friday bye