In just over a week, hundreds of thousands are expected to descend on the nation’s capital for the March 24 March For Our Lives demonstration. The event coordinated by the students from Parkland, Florida’s, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is intended to shine a spotlight on calls for school safety and commonsense gun legislation in the wake of the Feb. 14 massacre in which 14 MSD students and 3 teachers were killed in a mass shooting perpetrated by a man wielding a military-style semi-automatic AR-15 rifle.
And now, those marchers have a theme song for their action thanks to a just-released recording of “Shine,” a track written by two survivors of the shooting, 16 year-old Sawyer Garrity and 15 year-old Andrea Peña. Proceeds from the download sales of the touching ballad that also features members of the school drama department will be donated to the SHINE MSD Fund at the Broward Education Foundation, a non-profit that will help support the victims and their families through community mental health and arts programs.
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The students memorably performed the song at a CNN town hall one week after the shooting, at which some of the students confronted Florida Sen. Marco Rubio about his continued support from the National Rifle Association. “We, we’re gonna stand tall/ Gonna raise up our voices, so we’ll never, ever fall/ We’re done with all your little games/ We’re tired of hearing that we’re too young to ever make a change,” the pair sing on the song. “Cuz you’re not gonna knock us down /We’ll get back up again/ You may have hurt us but I promise we’ll be stronger/ And we’re not gonna let you in/ We’re putting up a fight/ You may have brought the dark/ But together we will shine a light.”
The effort got some love from Miley Cyrus, who encouraged Smilers to check out the track. “Please support the powerful message of change, unity and healing from student survivors of the #StonemanDouglas shooting,” she wrote.
Please support the powerful message of change, unity and healing from student survivors of the #StonemanDouglas shooting. Listen to their song #SHINE https://t.co/42iunNnGeD & be a part of the movement to help end gun violence! pic.twitter.com/di9QS6ugx2
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 16, 2018
.@shineMSD #MSDStrong #NeverAgain @AMarch4OurLives —— @happyhippiefdn
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 16, 2018
Listen to the song below and download it from iTunes and other major streaming services.
“Shine” was released a day after students at more than 3,000 schools across the country staged a walk out to protest gun violence in the biggest demonstration to date of the student activism that has emerged in response to the MSD massacre.
And watch the performance from the CNN town hall.