An 11-year-old stood on the stage at Saturdays March for Our Lives in Washington D.C., and gave a powerful speech for the victims of gun violence who stories she said don’t get told.
"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 the evening news," Naomi Wadler said as thousands cheered.
Wadler, who attends school in Virginia, led a walkout at her elementary school on March 14 as part of the national effort to call for stricter gun laws.
The 11-year-old said she and her peers stood outside for 18 minutes, instead of 17, for Courtlin Arrington, a black girl who was killed in a school shooting in Alabama after the Parkland shooting.
"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,” Wadler continued in her speech. "People have said that I am a tool of some nameless adult. It's not true.”
Wadler said in seven years she will be able to vote, but even now, she and her peers know when life isn’t equal for everyone.
"I urge everyone here and everyone who hears my voice to join me in telling the stories that aren't told.,” Wadler said. “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."
She was lauded for her speech on social media.
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