“Be a nuisance when it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged, & disappointed at failure & the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption & bad politics — but never give up.”
That is a quote from Marjory Stoneman Douglas; an environmentalist, journalist and activist whose name is now forever linked to the school shooting that rocked Parkland, Florida last month.
Her own words are being echoed at walk outs, rallies and other moments of activism around the country, a month after 17 people were killed in a school shooting at a high school bearing her name.
Robert Runcie, Broward County’s school superintendent, echoed the quote on Twitter. According to another tweet, a banner bearing Douglas’ words hangs near MSD high school.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an important figure in Florida’s history, and is most noted for her work in championing the Everglades, the vast 1.5 million acre area of wetlands that is the defining environmental feature of South Florida. She was hugely politically active, and in 1993 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country.