Due to gun violence, 3,044 students did not graduate this year. Change The Ref is making sure these victims are not forgotten, and is forcing pro-gun legislators and proponents to face the tragic consequences of their policies by creating “The Lost Class.”
This month, a graduation ceremony was held to honor The Lost Class. In this video a most unlikely commencement speaker is seen and heard–David Keene, former president and current board member of the NRA. The NRA has used its power and influence to block stronger background checks and common-sense gun reform which could have saved many of these graduates’ lives.
Keene believed his speech was for the graduation ceremony of a local Las Vegas high school, James Madison Academy. Instead Keene comes out onto the stage to find himself addressing thousands of empty chairs about the bright futures they would never have.
Had he conducted a background check on James Madison Academy, Keene would have found out that the school is fake–the creation of Change The Ref, Leo Burnett Chicago and director Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man.
“Graduation day is meant to symbolize potential and achievement. But for this group of students, it’s become a day to wonder what the rest of their lives would have looked like,” said Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was one of the 17 victims in the Parkland massacre. Manuel co-founded Change the Ref with his wife Patricia in Joaquin’s memory. “Let’s not lose another class of students to the gun violence epidemic. Let’s demand that we make graduating America’s children more important than gaining uninhibited access to guns.”
Gun violence is the leading cause of death among middle and high school students. Despite much of the country being shut down, 2020 was the deadliest gun violence year in decades, and so far the U.S. is exceeding that pace through the first five months of 2021. Using CDC data, the size of The Lost Class was estimated by compiling firearm deaths, by age, since 2003 and matching it to the grade that the Class of 2021 was in at the time.
While gun violence may have stolen their futures, Change the Ref is making sure members of The Lost Class can still make their voices heard by urging the government to require universal background checks on gun sales.
Video footage of this graduation ceremony and other resources are available at TheLostClass.com.
