Steve Kerr urges youth to make gun violence a priority for lawmakers

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr encouraged the younger generations to bring gun violence to the political forefront by going out to vote.

“Make this the No. 1 issue for the people we vote for,” Kerr said. “People in power work for us.”

If Steve Kerr ever decided to run for president, he would most definitely have my vote.

Appearing at Newark Memorial High School on Monday, the Golden State Warriors head coach helped lead a town-hall discussion concerning gun violence in America in front of what was estimated to be 500 high school students and a number of elected officials.

Speaking alongside Rep. Ro Khanna, D-CA 17th District, and college student Matt Deitsch — a Parkland, Fla. native and the Community Outreach Director of Never Again — Kerr placed the responsibility of promoting positive, peaceful change to the current political landscape in the hands of the youth.

His key piece of advice to today’s young people: get out and vote.

“You can scare the hell out of people by voting. You can scare the hell out of them,” Kerr said during his opening remarks, drawing an applause from the audience. “But don’t just register to vote — inspire the people around you to register to vote.”

“Matt [Deitsch] taught me something today that I didn’t know: only one-in-five people your age take the time to vote or register to vote. One-in-five. Let’s get that number to two-in-five, and then three-in-five.”

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Kerr drew from his own experiences, citing the assassination of his father, Malcolm Kerr, as one of the reasons he feels so strongly about bringing an end to gun violence in America.

He also compared today’s youth to the passionate protesters of the Vietnam War, stating that it’s up to the young people to make a considerable difference politically.

“The young people basically had to intervene and end the war in Vietnam because the old ‘wise’ people in our government were just butchering everything,” said Kerr. “58,000 service men and women died in Vietnam because we were stuck in this political quagmire, but it took the young generation and their anger and their passion to change our thinking.”

“Since that time, I haven’t felt that same momentum and that same anger and that passion from a generation — it’s happening,” Kerr continued. “So you guys have a responsibility to keep that going.”

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-CA 5th District, Chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and a Vietnam War veteran, also used the Vietnam War comparison, saying that “it wasn’t a bunch of old people” that ended the war, but rather, it was the young.

“This is our civil rights movement. This is our Vietnam War moment,” said Thompson. “There’s a gun epidemic in the United States of America. There are a lot of things that we can do to make it better.”

The star of the event, however, was the 20-year-old Deitsch, whose younger brother and sister locked themselves in school closets for hours to avoid the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland.

A gifted orator, Deitsch drove home the fact that mass shootings can happen anywhere in the country, and the current gun laws we have in place do nothing to protect us from being a victim of gun violence.

“The way Parkland feels right now is a way no one should ever feel in this country, said Deitsch. “We call our country the greatest of all time, and yet, we don’t look our issues in the face, this issue that takes 96 lives every single day….That is something I don’t stand for.”

“This isn’t a left issue. This isn’t a right issue. This is about saving innocent lives.”

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Deitsch told the media that he appreciates prominent names like Dwyane Wade and Steve Kerr, who have lent their voices to the issue of gun violence. Congressman Ro Khanna shared the same sentiment, saying that Kerr’s “courage is not to be underestimated.”

“It is so unusual to see someone of his stature take a stand on a political issue, and it speaks to how important this issue is to him, how personal it is to him, that he’s willing to do it,” said Khanna.

“He’s canceled a Warriors practice, he’s coming down here to speak to young people, and I think he sees what so many of us see: that there’s a moment in this country that can make a difference, and if he can lend his voice to that, he wants to be part of it.”

“I really admire him for it, and I hope more people like him will begin to speak up.”