David Hogg has turned tragedy into activism. He survived the shooting that took place on Feb. 14, 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people died. Following the shooting, he and his high school classmates began March for Our Lives, a youth-led movement whose mission includes civic engagement, education and direct action by youth to stop gun violence. March for Our Lives organized one of the largest demonstrations in the U.S. five weeks after the school shooting.
Hogg brought his message of activism and voter participation to Kent State University with his talk, titled “From May 4th to Today: Amplifying Advocacy With David Hogg.” The 23-year-old spoke to a gathering of students, employees and community members on March 14 in the Kent Student Center Kiva.
“I speak at a number of colleges around the country, but Kent State really feels like the first one where it feels a lot like my community in many ways, unfortunately, because of the trauma that both communities share, even if it is decades apart,” Hogg said. “With the tragedy like that happened here, students can oftentimes, you can either shy away and shut down and do nothing or you can stand up and do something. And students here actually stood up and they did something. They ended a war.”
Hogg was invited to Kent State by the May 4 Task Force, the student-led organization dedicated to the memory of May 4, 1970. On that tragic day, the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war protest on campus, killing four students, wounding nine students and forever changing the lives of countless others.
“We at the task force felt a kinship with David’s experience,” said Sophia Swengel, a Kent State junior majoring in history who serves as chair of the May 4 Task Force. “Both the survivors of May 4 and the survivors of Parkland faced an awful tragedy and were forced to undergo a very public grieving process. In light of that, they spoke up for their own experiences. That tenacity really resonated with us in considering the legacy of May 4 on campus, because the role Kent State students play and have played in keeping that memory alive is irreplaceable.”
Hogg’s visit to Kent State included a tour of the May 4 Visitors Center.
An agent of change, Hogg has called upon Americans to “get over politics and get something done.” He has challenged citizens to stand up, speak out and work to elect morally just leaders, despite party affiliation.
“I don’t have any problem with people owning guns,” Hogg said. “I just want people to be safe. I want people to teach their kids the same respect and responsibility that I learned from my father. My first time shooting guns was in the fourth grade because my dad wanted to show me that this is not a toy. This is not something to be curious about. This is something that can kill somebody else because he understood the power of responsibility that came with being a law enforcement officer and also a gun owner. That is what we need to be teaching our kids. I would not advocate that every fourth grader goes out and go shooting with their parents, to be clear, but to understand that you need to be practicing responsibility with these firearms. And parents, you need to know that if your child uses your gun or a gun that you provided them in a school shooting that you can be held criminally liable.”
Hogg said he is optimistic about the future.
“I have hope that things can get better because we’ve seen the laws that we’ve passed after Parkland,” he said.
Last year, Hogg co-founded another grassroots organization called Leaders We Deserve to help young, progressive candidates get elected to the U.S. Congress and state legislatures. According to its website, the organization aims to “identify and elect more trailblazers – youthful, audacious and charismatic leaders who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo.” Leaders We Deserve pledges to work with these candidates, supporting and equipping their campaigns with tools that help them fundraise, develop messaging and more.
“Because of the work that has been done here at Kent State and across the country with the passage of the 26th Amendment, young people of the age of 18 gained the right to vote because before that, for those of you among us that are not aware of this, you could not vote unless you were 21 in the United States at the time or older,” Hogg said. “And it’s because of that work that March for Our Lives has had successes that it’s had, that it was able to stand up despite not having tens of millions of dollars to spend on political action committees and more, we were able to lobby students around the country to go out and protest in one of the largest student protests in American history. It’s because of you all, the actions that you took here that that change was made possible. Those deaths were not in vain because it led for us to save lives today.”
In addition to being an activist and speaker, Hogg is a New York Times bestselling author. He co-wrote “#NeverAgain: A New Generation Draws the Line” with his younger sister, Lauren Hogg, who was also a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Hogg graduated from Harvard University in spring 2023. He is active on social media, with 1.1 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Swengel shared her hopes for event attendees who heard Hogg’s speech.
“I hope people will leave the event inspired,” Swengel said. “It’s easy to feel like your abilities are limited or that you’re powerless if you’re young or inexperienced. I think the big message here is that you do have that ability to make change, no matter what adversities you’ve faced.”
Learn more about the May 4 Task Force on Facebook and Instagram.