“I will not die for the fucking economy”

Benjamin Kelly, the district secretary for Representative Shawn Harrison, reportedly liked a tweet that referred to González as a “brown bald lesbian girl.” (Kelly has since been fired.)

González is not deterred. She’s taking calls from Demi Lovato; speaking with Anderson Cooper on live television. Overnight, she’s turned into the face of gun control, and her being a brown bald bisexual woman is not a deficit, as some might decide–instead, an incredible talisman that seems to indicate the kind of power those of us deemed powerless truly have. That despite the Trumps of the world telling minorities how worthless we are, over and over again; that QPOCs and women are not even low priority but instead targets, we will not recoil while sheepishly raising white flags.

Emma González is the portrait of empowerment, and she’s inspiring a movement that includes us all; one that is not asking for, but demanding a safety that is no longer promised or assured by current administration. And as she continues her advocacy into the March For Our Lives on March 24, it appears the NRA might have finally mets its match in a teenage girl.