美国国家公共电台 NPR Mother Of Parkland Victim Wins School Board Seat: 'I Won't Stop' Until Kids Are Safe

 

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Ordinarily, we wouldn't be bringing you news of a local school board election, but this one has special resonance¹. This past Tuesday, Lori Alhadeff of Parkland, Fla., was elected to the Broward County School Board. Her 14-year-old daughter, Alyssa, was one of the students shot and killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School earlier this year. And that is what motivated Lori Alhadeff to run. She told me about one of her last memories of her daughter from the day before the February 14 massacre².

LORI ALHADEFF: She played her last soccer game, actually, on February 13, that night. And when she got into the car, I told Alyssa - I turned to her, and I said, listen. You know, you played the best game of your life. And she was like yeah, I know, mom.

BLOCK: So she could tell that that was a high point for her.

ALHADEFF: Well, you know, and reflecting back on it, it was - she actually really did play the best game of her life - and being her last soccer game of her life was incredible.

BLOCK: It wasn't long after Lori Alhadeff buried her daughter that she decided³ to run for office.

ALHADEFF: It became very clear to me that I needed to have a seat at table, to have a voice, to have a vote, to make change happen. And they sort of nominated me on social media to run for school board. I was like, you know what? I can do this. And I used to be a health and physical education teacher before I was a stay-at-home mom. So I knew that I could be an advocate for change, an advocate for school safety.

BLOCK: What are some of those points of school safety that you would want to change, that you will advocate for on the board?

ALHADEFF: Sure. So I - when I talk about school safety, it's layers and layers of protection. So the first layer of protection is school safety starts at home and communicating to parents how they need to be alert to their children - what's going on in their social media, looking at their phones, knowing their passwords and checking their bags. And then we need school hardening. So every school needs to have a single-point entry. And we need to have an armed law enforcement or a guardian⁴ at each school. We could have a metal detector⁵ there. And if we're not going to do metal detectors⁶, we can have metal detector wands checking kids' bags. We've had, you know, so many school shootings. And we need to start regulating and making standard school-safety guidelines.

BLOCK: There's been a lot of talk about arming teachers, not just security guards. How do you feel about that?

ALHADEFF: I don't think that we should arm our teachers. Our teachers are qualified⁷ to teach our students. We need to give them more paper, pens, resources for their classrooms. But absolutely, we should not be giving them a gun.

BLOCK: I think a lot of people may remember really powerful footage of you very soon after the shooting in February in which you directly address President Trump⁸ with a very urgent plea. Do you feel like that was listened to? Do you feel like that has given you any response that you're satisfied with?

ALHADEFF: Well, I think that the people and the public listened to me. And they agreed with me and felt my pain and agree that there needs to be change. However, President Trump - I don't think he listened to me. And I would be happy to sit down and talk to him about it.

BLOCK: I gather that you used to be a Republican. Am I right about that?

ALHADEFF: Correct.

BLOCK: And that you switched and ran as a Democrat⁹. Why did you switch?

ALHADEFF: Sure. I switched to become a Democrat because I feel that the Democratic Party better aligns¹⁰ with banning the assault weapon rifle.

BLOCK: Was it an easy decision for you to make? What was going through your mind when you made that switch?

ALHADEFF: No, it was definitely - it was easy decision for me to make. You know, before this, I wasn't really a very political person. As far as the guns go, you know - I don't try to talk too much about because I know becomes too polarizing. We have, you know, people that go to the right, and people go to left, and they forget about making schools safe. Listen. I believe in the Second Amendment¹¹. I believe in the right for people to bear arms. But I think that we can come to common ground to make responsible laws and decisions in how we can make our society safer.

BLOCK: You have two sons who are also in the Broward County School System. What have you talked about with them as they've headed back to school this year?

ALHADEFF: Sure. So I've had some tough conversations with them. I bought them a ballistic-resistant backpack.

BLOCK: Really?

ALHADEFF: And I've taught them how to use that bag to protect their face and their vital organs in front of their body. I've also gone through code red drills with them, explaining them to know where to go in the classroom and that if a threat comes to them that they have to fight for their life.

BLOCK: How old are your boys?

ALHADEFF: Thirteen and 11.

BLOCK: I wonder, Ms. Alhadeff, if there's part of you that just wants to give yourself a break. I mean, obviously, on the school board, you can be an advocate, and you can take all these issues on. I just wonder whether there's part of you that just wants to not have to do that, to not be in that position.

ALHADEFF: No, I don't feel that way at all. I want to be a voice of change. And I've been fighting since February 14 to make change happen. And I won't stop.

BLOCK: That's Lori Alhadeff. Her daughter, Alyssa, was one of the 17 people killed in the Parkland school shooting in February. This past week, she was elected to the Broward County School Board. Ms. Alhadeff, thanks so much for talking with us.

ALHADEFF: Thank you.

1 resonance   

n.洪亮；共鸣；共振

参考例句：

• Playing the piano sets up resonance in those glass ornaments.一弹钢琴那些玻璃饰物就会产生共振。
• The areas under the two resonance envelopes are unequal.两个共振峰下面的面积是不相等的。

2 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 guardian   

n.监护人；守卫者，保护者

参考例句：

• The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
• The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。

5 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

6 detectors   

探测器( detector的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The report advocated that all buildings be fitted with smoke detectors. 报告主张所有的建筑物都应安装烟火探测器。
• This is heady wine for experimenters using these neutrino detectors. 对于使用中微子探测器的实验工作者，这是令人兴奋的美酒。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

9 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

10 aligns   

使成一线( align的第三人称单数 )； 排整齐； 校准； 公开支持（某人、集体或观点）

参考例句：

• HASP SRM fully aligns with the software product lifecycle. HASPSRM完全遵循软件产品的生命周期。
• Significant employee aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders. 员工大量持股可以使员工与股东的利益协调一致。

11 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。