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15 March 2018, Washington DC, USA

My name is Michael Solomon, I am a sophomore at Springbrook High School

Before I start, I want to thank all of you who have helped.

but most of all, I want to thank everyone who is out here supporting us today, because you are the fuel that the engine of this movement needs to run on.

I want all of you to know, that you are on the right side of history with this.

Now personally, I'm proud to take part in a nationwide movement that we are a part of today.

But I think we call agree, in an ideal world, none of us would be here. In an ideal world, the 20 first-graders and kindergartners who died at Sandy Hook would be in middle school today. In an ideal world, the 58 concert-goers who were gunned down in Las Vegas would have gone home and returned to be with their families. In an ideal world, the 32 students who died at Virginia Tech would be employed professionals, and the 17 victims from Stoneman Douglas would probably be eating lunch at school right now, and the only thing they would be worrying about is a test for ext period.

But unfortuantely this isn’t the case.

Unfortunately we live in a country where law makers are more concerned about contributions from the NRA than they are about the lives of their own constituents. And thanks to people like them, you and I have to go to school every day, and wonder in the back of our minds if we'll even make it to graduation.

That shouldn't haappen.

So this will go on for no longer.

We the students of the United States have a message to those of you in congress. If you don't give us stricter background checks, heavier restrictions on AR15 assault style weapons, and and easier access to mental health institutions and resources, you will pay dearly at the ballot box.

A lot of us are 18 today, and a lot of us will be 18 by November, and that’s when midterms start. So I can promise you this. Do your jobs, give us concrete solutions, and for once, value our lives over your bank accounts, or we will vote you out.

I want everyone to remember this, this is not an excuse to skip school, nor is it a hopeless effort that will bear no fruit. I want everyone to remember, everyone here to remember history. That the protest and the march on washington during the civil rights movement brought us the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of the sixties.

I want everyone to remember that the protests and the women's suffrage momvement gave us the 19th amendment.

And so on and so forth.

I want all of you to know that all of us will join their ranks in the history books because we too will remain persistent until there is real change.