The teen survivors of the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting that left 17 dead have made the most out of their new national spotlight. No one student has been able to embody the #neveragain hashtag as much as Emma Gonzalez, who (through fiery speeches and directly confronting the NRA) has become the face and voice of the movement. Gonzalez has even been able to fly past the NRA (which has 587,000 followers) and amass over a quarter-million of her own fans in less than two weeks after opening an account. People began to notice her flight past NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch over the weekend.
Yesterday, @Emma4Change gained more followers than the @NRA.
Today, she gained more followers than @DLoesch.
All in less than two weeks.
Change is coming. pic.twitter.com/Jo9TnoTjDQ
— Brynna Quillin (@brynnaquillin) February 25, 2018
Emma Gonzalez now has more followers than the NRA:@NRA: 550k
@Emma4Change: 551k (and counting)
This is what happens when you speak truth to power. We are witnessing history. pic.twitter.com/Zj2m262k44
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) February 24, 2018
Gonzalez, who is a senior, joined Twitter after her name started trending after she gave a speech at an anti-gun rally to called out politicians who accept donations from the NRA — specifically President Trump, who took direct donations from the organization for his 2016 campaign.
“If you don’t do anything to prevent this from continuing to occur, that number of gunshot victims will go up and the number that they are worth will go down. And we will be worthless to you,” she said. Continuing her social media efforts, Gonzalez started Monday morning by tweeting about President Trump’s plan to arm teachers, which she finds to be ridiculous.
https://twitter.com/Emma4Change/status/968115313995853825
(Via USA Today)