In the wake of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Americans seem to have finally galvanized behind a powerful and heartbreaking speech given by that school’s Emma Gonzalez (you can watch it HERE) and the outcry and actions from her classmates and countless other students and parents across the nation against the maleficent inability of our political “leaders” to meaningfully control guns in America. The madness must end or be meaningfully reduced! No other nation suffers a similar affliction! The damnable NRA gun-manufacturers’ lobby must be stopped and its political prostitutes (see one list HERE) must pay for the blood on their complicit hands. Let’s not let this just be one more in an endless string of shootings and killings. Let’s cut the cord. Come one, come all and march on March 24th, April 20th and any and all other days necessary towards this goal. Let’s work to register voters and then get out the vote to toss out the NRA’s political henchmen and begin to make meaningful change.

In the aftermath of this latest atrocity, we were struck (yet again) over the weekend by a performance by the PS22 Chorus. This time of their take on The Pretenders’ I’ll Stand By You (lyrics at bottom). Watch it below in all its sweet glory. And then imagine these innocent children slaughtered by yet another automatic-weapons wielding psychopath. Yes, it seems unimaginable. But in America, as sure as the day becomes night, if we don’t throw out the NRA’s accomplices and things don’t meaningfully change, Parkland (following Sandy Hook, Columbine, etc. ad nauseam) will happen again. And again. Let’s not let that happen!

“Oh, why you look so sad, the tears are in your eyes,
Come on and come to me now, and don’t be ashamed to cry,
Let me see you through, ’cause I’ve seen the dark side too.
When the night falls on you, you don’t know what to do,
Nothing you confess could make me love you less,

I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you

So if you’re mad, get mad, don’t hold it all inside,
Come on and talk to me now.
Hey there, what you got to hide?
I get angry too, well, I’m alive like you.
When you’re standing at the cross roads,
And don’t know which path to choose,
Let me come along, ’cause even if you’re wrong

I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you.
Baby, even to your darkest hour, and I’ll never desert you,
I’ll stand by you.
And when, when the night falls on you baby,
You’re feeling all a lone, you’re wandering on your own,
I’ll stand by you.

I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you, baby even to your darkest hour,
And I’ll never desert you,
I’ll stand by you,
I’ll stand by you.
I’ll stand by you, won’t let nobody hurt you,
I’ll stand by you, baby even to your darkest hour,
And I’ll never desert you
I’ll stand by you”