Naomi Wadler | |
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![]() Wadler in 2018 | |
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Education | The Field School |
Years active | 2018–present |
Naomi Wadler (born October 16, 2006) is an American student and activist against gun violence. She has made speeches advocating for victims of gun violence in the United States, especially black female victims, most notably at the pro-gun control protest March For Our Lives. She attends The Field School in Washington, DC.
Wadler was adopted by Julie Wadler from an Ethiopian orphanage in 2007. Wadler's mother also adopted another daughter, Sarah, in 2009. [1]
Wadler's African American father is a recreational hunter. [2]
Wadler told Elle in April 2018 that she is Ethiopian Jewish and that she had been the victim of racism at her school because of her Jewish and Ethiopian heritages. [3]
On March 14, 2018, Wadler helped organize a walkout of 200 classmates at George Mason Elementary School. [4] They stood in silence for 18 minutes: 17 minutes in memory of the 17 victims of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and one minute in memory of Courtlin Arrington, a black girl who had been a victim of gun violence at Huffman High School in Birmingham, Alabama. [5]
On March 24, Wadler spoke to many people at March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. She was the youngest speaker at the rally. [6] She talked about why she pushed for the walkout [7] and said that there's a disproportionate number of black female victims of gun violence in the United States. [2] instead of holding the protest for 17 minutes like the people at the other schools, Wadler held the protest to last for 18 minutes. The extra minute was for a girl who was shot at her school in Alabama on March 7. [2] Wadler was initially worried that discussing black female victims would be considered "off topic", but felt comfortable after finding out about "other students from all over would speak from their experiences". [2] The speech became popular on Twitter, and was praised by famous black actresses. [8]
Wadler subsequently spoke at the Women in the World Annual Summit and the Teen Vogue summit. [9] [8] Wadler received a standing ovation for her speech at the Tribeca Film Festival, where she received the Disruptive Innovation Award. Wadler mentioned a black woman who was killed in the Nashville Waffle House shooting on April 22, 2018, along with three black men. Wadler asserted that the perpetrator had been offered a bail, which was revoked after additional criminal charges, because he was white. [10] Wadler was also a guest at The Ellen DeGeneres Show . [8] She spoke at the 2020 Davos Economic Forum highlighting racial disparities in addressing gun violence against black females in the United States saying: "White girls’ lives matter so much more than any black girl who dies in the inner city, or on the way to school. We don’t hear about them, they’re statistics." [11] She was named one of Teen Vogue 's "21 Under 21" [12] and shared a New York Magazine cover with actress Barbra Streisand.
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is a public high school in Parkland, Florida, United States. It was established in 1990 and is part of the Broward County Public Schools district. It is named after the writer Marjory Stoneman Douglas and is the only public high school in Parkland, serving almost all of the limits of that city as well as a section of Coral Springs.
There have been several studies concerning women in Ethiopia. Historically, elite and powerful women in Ethiopia have been visible as administrators and warriors. This never translated into any benefit to improve the rights of women, but it had meant that women could inherit and own property and act as advisors on important communal and tribal matters. As late as the first part of the 20th century, Queen Menen, consort of Emperor Haile Selassie I, had a decisive role in running the Ethiopian Empire. Workit and Mestayit regents to their minor sons have been held responsible for their provinces. They owed their rights to landed property because of a special type of land tenure that expected tenants to serve as militia to overlords, irrespective of gender. In 1896, Empress Tayetu Betul, wife of Emperor Menelik II, actively advised the government and participated in defending the country from Italian invasion. Prominent and other landowning women fought against the second invasion in 1935–41. With the assistance of European advisors, women in the ensuing period were kept out of the army and politics, even as advisors. Instead, they were restricted to family and household work of raising children and cooking. With a steady increase in female representation in education, they have started to undertake nursing, teaching, and other similarly supportive roles. Over the 2018–2019 period, their gradual participation in state politics has been increasing at a steady pace.
Naomi Elaine Campbell is an English model and media personality. Beginning her career at the age of 8, Campbell was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press. She was the first black woman to appear as a model on the covers of Time and Vogue France.
Naomi Scott is an English actress and singer. Born in Hounslow, London, Scott began her career with a starring role on the Disney Channel series Life Bites (2008–2009) and gained wider recognition for starring in the television musical film Lemonade Mouth (2011), for which she performed on the chart-topping eponymous soundtrack. Following this breakthrough, she starred in the science fiction series Terra Nova (2011) and the superhero film Power Rangers (2017).
Elaine Marie Welteroth is an American journalist, editor, author, and television host. In April 2016, Welteroth was named editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, making her the second person of African-American heritage in Condé Nast's 107-year history to hold such a title. Her promotion to editor at age 29 makes her the second youngest editor in Condé Nast history, behind former Teen Vogue EIC Lindsay Peoples Wagner who was 28 when she started in the role in Condé Nast. When she became beauty director of Teen Vogue in 2012, Welteroth was the first person of African-American heritage to serve in the role. She is credited for the notable increase of Teen Vogue coverage of politics and social justice, encouraging readers to become civically engaged, specifically during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Under Welteroth's leadership of Teen Vogue's shifting format, the magazine developed its first YouTube channel, featuring content on diverse subjects from campus style to cultural appropriation. The final print edition of Teen Vogue was December 2017.
Eva Maria Lewis is an American activist. From South Side, Chicago, she has led a number of local protests, including the July 11, 2016 youth march on Millennium Park to protest police brutality. She has also founded two organizations, The I Project and Youth for Black Lives.
Olaoluwa Abagun is a Nigerian lawyer, Feminist, and a Vocal Girls' Rights Advocate, nurturing a dynamic generation of African Girls. She is the Founder of the Girl Pride Circle Initiative, a notable girl NGO situated in Nigeria, she holds the position of Executive Director at ATHENA, a global feminist network dedicated to promoting gender equality and upholding human rights
X González is an American activist and advocate for gun control. In 2018, they survived the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, and, in response, co-founded the gun-control advocacy group Never Again MSD.
Never Again MSD is an American student-led political action committee for gun control that advocates for tighter regulations to prevent gun violence. The organization, also known by the Twitter hashtags #NeverAgain, and #EnoughIsEnough, was formed by a group of twenty students attending Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) at the time of the deadly shooting in 2018, in which seventeen students and staff members were killed by gunman, Nikolas Cruz, who was a 19-year-old former student of the school and was armed with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. The organization started on social media as a movement "for survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting, by survivors of the Stoneman Douglas Shooting" using the hashtag #NeverAgain. A main goal of the group was to influence that year's United States mid-term elections, and they embarked on a multi-city bus tour to encourage young people to register to vote.
March for Our Lives (MFOL) is a student-led organization which leads demonstrations in support of gun control legislation. It took place in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2018, with over 880 sibling events throughout the United States and around the world, and was planned by Never Again MSD in collaboration with the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety. The event followed the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting a month earlier, which was described by several media outlets as a possible tipping point for gun control legislation.
In 2018, protests against gun violence in the United States increased after a series of mass shootings, most notably at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14 that year. An organized protest in the form of a national school walkout occurred on March 14. March for Our Lives was held on March 24. Another major demonstration occurred April 20, 2018.
Sarah Chadwick is an American activist against gun violence and one of the leaders of the Never Again MSD activist movement.
Fred Guttenberg is an American activist against gun violence. His 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg was murdered in the Parkland high school shooting in suburban Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 14, 2018. His son, Jesse, also a student at the school, ran from the shooting to meet him at a nearby store. He learned about his daughter's death from a friend who is a Coral Springs SWAT officer. Jessica McBride, for the website Heavy, described him as "one of the strongest voices for changes to gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting".
Lucia Kay McBath is an American politician who has served in the United States House of Representatives from a district in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia since 2019. She represented Georgia's 6th congressional district from 2019 to 2023, and has represented the neighboring 7th district since 2023. McBath is a member of the Democratic Party.
Princess Ariana Austin Makonnen of Ethiopia is an American writer, arts manager and philanthropist. She is the founder of the evening arts festival Art All Night and of the creative agency French Thomas. In 2018, she and her husband launched Old World/New World Productions, a media company that produces content focusing on the African diaspora.
Mariame Kaba is an American activist, grassroots organizer, and educator who advocates for the abolition of the prison industrial complex, including all police. She is the author of We Do This 'Til We Free Us (2021). The Mariame Kaba Papers are held by the Chicago Public Library Special Collections.
50 Miles More is a youth-led American nonprofit organization working to end gun violence in the United States through local, grassroots action to pass gun control.
Katie Eder is an American activist and social entrepreneur who founded and has led social impact ventures 50 Miles More, Kids Tales, and The Future Coalition.
Aalayah Eastmond is an American activist and advocate for gun violence prevention, social justice, and racial equality. After surviving the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Eastmond began her activism during the 2018 United States gun violence protests. She has testified multiple times to the U.S. Congress. Eastmond is an executive council member of Team Enough, a youth-led gun violence prevention organization which is part of the Brady Campaign. Eastmond co-founded Concerned Citizens of DC in the wake of the murder of George Floyd to organize protests supporting social justice issues in Washington, D.C. She supports Black Lives Matter and protests against police brutality.