On February 26th, Dead & Company invited a large group of students and parents from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL to their nearby show in Sunrise. Before the show and during setbreak, the entire band met with the group and shared some inspirational words.
The group included many of the students who have been in the news media, calling for tougher gun laws and also calling on everyone to register to vote. HeadCount board member Bob Weir took that cue and encouraged all of the students to get involved with HeadCount and run their own voter registration drives.
We at HeadCount are most grateful to Bob and the band, and just as grateful to the kids who have turned tragedy into an important dialogue about democracy. Our thoughts are with everyone in Parkland, FL, especially the students, teachers and first responders.
Here are some highlights from Bob's talk:
"I can't imagine anyone who can be more effective at registering voters than this group here...
"You kids are creating quite a stir and it's focused and it's not the kind of thing that anyone can argue with, because you're right. What I want to tell you is there's an outfit here called HeadCount. Now HeadCount, they're not going to tell you guys what to do, because you guys are doing it. No one is going to tell you what to do better than you, but they can give you tools and they can give you a little feedback. If you guys want, if you want to do it and get involved, you could go out and register voters. You know, because you guys, y'all could save our democracy."