Parkland Survivor Seeks More Minority Input In #NeverAgain Movement
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A teenager who survived the shooting at Parkland Douglas High School in Florida visited students in South Holland on Thursday, to enlist her peers in the fight against gun violence.
Mei-Ling Ho-Shing began her day at Thornwood High School with what she might soon see at her school in Parkland, Florida: a security wand at the front door.
Broward County Public Schools officials have been considering the use of metal-detecting wands at Stoneman Douglas in the wake of the massacre that killed 17 students and teachers in February.
As she joined a class at Thornwood on Thursday, Ho-Shing shared her memories of the horror at Stoneman Douglas on Feb. 14.
"I've never been so scared in my life," she said. "We had to hide behind our teacher's desk. So we kind of shut off the lights, and hid right in that corner over there, and we just held each other."
Ho-Shing said she was troubled that her black and Hispanic peers living with violence in places like Chicago don't get nearly as much attention as the shooting at Stoneman Douglas.
"It's time to hand over the mic to the people that actually have to deal with this on a daily basis," she said.
Thornwood senior Nicolette Sales was Ho-Shing's escort at Thornwood. Sales led a school walkout last month to protest gun violence.
"It's actually really motivational to think that someone who's been through so much is able to take what they've been through, and be able to apply that to other schools."
Ho-Shing said it's important to make sure minority voices are heard during the national push for gun reform that has been led by many of her classmates.
"I just want to inspire others. I understand a lot of African Americans don't have that connection with the #NeverAgain movement, because they don't see people that look like them, and there's 40 percent of minorities that go to Stoneman Douglas, but you don't really see that at the forefront of this movement," she said.
Ho-Shing is part a group of minority students at Stoneman Douglas who feel they've been largely ignored in the national conversation about gun violence.
She planned to speak to the Illinois Education Association on Friday in Rosemont.