Garth Brooks to Parkland Activist Emma Gonzalez: ‘Do Not Let Hate Win’
On Monday, during his regular Inside Studio G Facebook Live video series, Garth Brooks offered praise and support for March for Our Lives, the rally for gun control legislation taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C., and all around the country.
“Your generation is the generation for the school shootings. Let’s make sure the next generation is not,” Brooks says around the 25-minute mark, addressing one of the protest’s organizers, Emma Gonzalez, a high-school student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 students were killed in a mass shooting last month. “Let’s make sure the next generation is not.”
“Beautiful. That’s a great thought,” Brooks said of March for Our Lives, whose aim, according to its website, is to “demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address…gun issues.”
“Be patient, be loving, because there might be some cross voices that enter in this march,” Brooks added, giving advice to Gonzalez and fellow young protestors. “Be tolerant. Be loving. Do not let hate win.”
Brooks followed his words of advice to Gonzalez by performing a snippet of an unreleased song with the lyrics, “To matter then, it must matter now.”
Before signing off for the week, a visibly emotional Brooks offered some final words of encouragement and a final endorsement for this weekend’s gun control protest:
“Everybody who will be marching: Love. Do not let hate win. Love,” he said. “Be a part of it.”