Florida high school students release song to benefit shooting victims, families
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. have released a benefit song, with money raised going back to their community as it recovers from the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 students and teachers dead.
“Shine” was written by two students who survived the shooting, 16-year-old Sawyer Garrity and 15-year-old Andrea Peña. The school’s drama department chorus sings back-up on the song, which begins as a sparse piano ballad but grows in symphonic arrangements. At first, it appears the students sing toward the man who has admitted to committed the shooting, but soon after the target clearly switches from a single gunman to the NRA:
“You’re not gonna knock us down/ We’ll get back up again/ You may have hurt us but I promise we will 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’re gonna shine the light.”
“Shine” is available to buy on iTunes and on streaming services in the U.S. Proceeds from download sales will be donated to the SHINE MSD Fund at the Broward Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to support victims and their families via community mental health and arts programs.
The song was played on March 14 at Stoneman Douglas High School as students walked out of their classrooms in support of a nationwide protest to honor the victims and raise awareness about issues of school safety and the impact of gun violence. More than 3,000 walk-outs took place in the U.S. and around the world.