WEBVTT

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My name is Cameron Kasky,
I am 18 years old now.

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After a horrible tragedy
at my school,

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my friends and I came together

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to try to change the narrative
of school shootings.

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Our job is to protect
our country,

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and if our elected officials
aren't doing it,

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we have to step up.

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So we came together
and started a movement

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that was very much mobilized
by social media.

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We were tweeting out a lot.

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We were using our Instagram
to connect with other people

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and show them our messaging
in a really accessible way.

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We didn't really plan to do
a social media-based movement.

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We planned to do a movement,
and we didn't even think

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about what it was like
to base it in social media,

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because that's just
how we interact with each other.

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And it was hard.

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And over the course of the year,

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we have been harassed online.

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I received
countless death threats.

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I received very lewd images
in my Instagram direct messages.

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We were attacked like adults,

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but we were not defended
like kids.

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I have personally
said things online

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that I'm sure I'll look at
as an adult

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and not be very thrilled about.

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And a lot of us learned a lot
about how we interact

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with each other in social media.

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There are a lot of things

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about the Parkland movement

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that I think are amazing,

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and a lot of things I regret.

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But one thing I can tell you

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that is my point of pride
after all of this

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is that people don't remember
Parkland

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as the city that was destroyed.

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People remember Parkland
as the city

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that was strong and brave enough
to stand up and say,

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"We are not going to let you get
away with another one of these."

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The one lesson
I wish I had learned

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before all of this started

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was that the internet,
while it's not real life,

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is becoming a part of it.

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It's all about remembering

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that the social media exists

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to supplement
personal connections

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and not replace them.

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Behind every single account
on Twitter,

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unless they're a bot,

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there's a human being typing.

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And that person
might not realize

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just who they're interacting
with.

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So you feel like
it doesn't mean anything,

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and you feel like the people
who see your comments

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aren't affected by it.

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We are now a part

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of this large ocean
of connection,

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and it's now our job
to be responsible.

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We need to hold ourselves
accountable

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so somebody else doesn't do it
for us.

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I used to look down on people.

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I put myself on a pedestal.

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And I encouraged a lot of my
friends to do it, as well.

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I treated people
who disagreed with me

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like they weren't as good
human beings as I was.

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I did a town hall debate at CNN.

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Emotions were high--
just a week ago,

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people that I loved were killed.

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I went up and asked my senator,
Marco Rubio,

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if he would stop taking money
from the NRA.

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Can you tell me right now
that you will not accept

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a single donation
from the NRA in the future?

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(cheering and applauding)

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And I wish I had stopped it
there,

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but before that,
I compared him to the likeness

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of the shooter from my school.

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I became part of the problem,

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because I went up there
on that debate

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to make another human being
look bad as a human being

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and not as a politician,

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because I wanted to go up there
and embarrass him.

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I wanted to ruin his career.

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I did not do that
to benefit the conversation.

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I did not do that to benefit
our discourse as human beings.

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I did that to make
another person look bad.

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I learned a lesson from it,
and I...

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I'm thrilled
that we went out there,

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and I'm thrilled that we were
able to make this conversation

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such a national topic.

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But at the end of the day,

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I'm never going to
do something like that again.

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That's where we can stop this.

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We had counterprotesters
at all our events

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who were the same people

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who were commenting
these awful things

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in our social media posts.

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When we broke the wall,

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when we simply just spoke
to them,

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and we became humans
interacting with other humans,

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things changed.

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I was in Texas this summer.

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I met a man
who came up to me,

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shook my hand and said,

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"I went after you on Twitter
a lot this year.

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"I said some nasty things
about you on the internet.

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"But the fact that you're coming
up here to this counterprotest

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"really taught me something,

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"because I didn't know
that you kids were interested

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in approaching this
like people."

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He introduced me
to his wife and kids,

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who were all out there
protesting us, as well.

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And they said they don't know
if they want to do this again,

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because when we came up
and connected with them,

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it changed the way
they look at it.

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That left me floored.

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And that's why it's so important

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to look at people
who disagree with you

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like other human beings.

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When people disagree with you
on political issues,

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you have to remember

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that approaching them
like this is your enemy

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isn't... it's not going to do
anything for you.

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You have to approach everybody

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in bitterly social
and political situations

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like they're part of
the same world that you are.

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Approach a bitterly
partisan topic,

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but come from a place
where you want to learn.

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You learn the most from the
people who disagree with you.

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I'm not speaking
about any specific issues,

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but be ready to learn something.

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Assume that every single person
you speak to

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knows something that you don't,
because it's true.

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Remember that the best thing
you can do as a human being

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is lift another person up,
not knock them down.

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I think you're allowed
to criticize my messaging

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without criticizing
my character or who I am.

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These are emotional topics
because they affect us.

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A lot of kids like me
and like you

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believe what we believe
because of our upbringing.

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That's okay--
that's how we were raised.

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It's part of our character.

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I used to not understand

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how someone could disagree
with me.

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But be ready
to change people's hearts,

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be ready to change
people's minds,

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and be open
to changing your mind.