Naomi Wadler had a powerful message to share when she took to the stage at the March For Our Lives rally in Washington DC over the weekend: stop ignoring murdered women of colour.
The 11-year-old was there to speak for the African-American female victims of gun violence whose stories don't make the headlines. “I represent the African American women who are victims of gun violence, who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls that fill a potential,” she said.
The grade five student is a budding activist and staged a walkout at her primary school in Alexandria, Virginia as part of a national protest on March 14. Wadler told the crowd that she and her classmates stood outside their school for 18 minutes - 17 minutes for the victims of the in Florida - and one extra minute to honour , an African American girl who was shot dead in her school in Alabama after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, but her story didn't make the news.
It was a remarkable and unwavering speech for an 11-year-old, though Wadler was quick to point out she was not simply a mouthpiece for adults. “People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own,” she said. “People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It's not true.”
Wadler shamed the US media for painting these young, vibrant victims as statistics. And the numbers are grim. Gun violence in the US affects African-American communities at alarmingly higher rates. According to , 52 per cent of murder victims in America were black, even though they make up only 13 per cent of the US population.
African-American women are twice as likely to be murdered by men as white women (most often by firearms), one study from the found. Yet, as Wadler pointed out, the murders of young women like Arrington, or , who was shot in Chicago one week after she performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, are rarely reported.
Read Wadler’s full speech below. Bring on the next seven years when this future leader is finally able to vote.
Hi. My name is Naomi and I'm 11 years old.
Me and my friend Carter led a walkout at our elementary school on [March 14]. We walked out for 18 minutes, adding a minute to honor Courtlin Arrington, an African-American girl who was the victim of gun violence in her school in Alabama, after the Parkland shooting.
I am here today to represent Courtlin Arrington. I am here today to represent Hadiya Pendleton. I am here today to represent Taiyania Thompson, who at just 16 was shot dead in her home here in Washington, D.C.
I am here today to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper. Whose stories don't lead on the evening news.
I represent the African-American women who are victims of gun violence. Who are simply statistics instead of vibrant, beautiful girls and full of potential.
It is my privilege to be here today. I am indeed full of privilege. My voice has been heard. I am here to acknowledge their stories, to say they matter, to say their names. Because I can, and I was asked to be.
For far too long, these names, these black girls and women have been just numbers. I am here to say never again for those girls too. I am here to say that everyone should value those girls too.
People have said that I am too young to have these thoughts on my own. People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It's not true.
My friends and I might still be 11, and we might still be in elementary school, but we know. We know life isn't equal for everyone, and we know what is right and wrong. We also know that we stand in the shadow of the Capitol and we know that we have seven short years until we, too, have the right to vote.
So I am here today to honor the words of Toni Morrison: "If there is a book that you want to read but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."
I urge everyone here and everyone who hears my voice to join me in telling the stories that aren't told. To honor the girls, the women of color, who are murdered at disproportionate rates in this nation. I urge each of you to help me write the narrative for this world and understand, so that these girls and women are never forgotten.
