our generation WILL END GUN VIOLENCE.

OUR HISTORY

On October 27, 2018, at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a gunman, armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and three Glock .357 handguns, murdered eleven worshipers and injured six others, carrying out the deadliest attack on the Jewish community that the United States has ever seen. 

But it wasn’t the first mass shooting. Nor was it the last. In fact, 40,000 people are shot each year in the United States, not only from mass shootings (which make up less than 1% of US annual gun deaths), but from community violence, suicide by firearm, domestic violence, police violence, hate crimes, accidental shooitngs, and more. But for University of Pittsburgh student Kathryn Fleisher, the Tree of Life shooting was the physically and emotionally closest instance of gun violence that she had ever experienced. Kathryn, a gun violence prevention organizer since 2015, a proud member of the Jewish community, and a college sophomore at the time, mourned, marched, rallied, and grieved with her Pittsburgh Jewish community in the aftermath of the horrific attack. And while the way her neighbors and fellow community members in Pittsburgh stepped up and spoke out for her community was both inspiring and comforting, something about the reactive nature of the community mobilization got her thinking.

A few weeks later, towards the end of 2018, Kathryn put her finger on what was bothering her about her community’s warm, yet reactive response to the attack, which she described to local press, saying: “I saw the kind of relationship-building that was going on across lines of difference in Pittsburgh -- particularly between the Muslim and Jewish communities -- but I also saw that when the cameras turned off and the shiva period ended, it started fading. I wanted to do something to keep those relationships, shared goals, and commitments to the community as a whole at the forefront of both national dialogue and local work.”

From this desire to build local, action-centered coalitions of community members from across various lines of difference to proactively and intentionally address how to keep community members safe, reduce all forms of gun violence, and improve public safety in an equitable and just manner, Not My Generation was born.

Since that time, Not My Generation (NMG) has continued to grow as a national organization uniquely focused on localized, intersectional gun violence prevention advocacy for and by young adults. Though our mission is specific and unique, NMG has also learned from and benefited greatly from the support, insights, and shared resources of pre-existing organizations in the space and from organizers who are doing and have done this work for generations. Because of the support of older generations of organizers and because of the unrelenting work of the current generation of young organizers, NMG has gone from a singular young activist’s project -- born simply out of grief, frustration, and love of community -- to a robust and active national organization with youth and young adult organizers in nearly 15 states. From hosting a National Summit for Young Adults Against Gun Violence in Washington, DC with 125 young gun violence prevention organizers from across the country in 2019, to producing a podcast featuring the stories, lived experiences, and incredible work of youth organizers from within and beyond the gun violence prevention movement, to spearheading the creation of a De-Policing Gun Violence Prevention Policy Playbook with collaboration from community-based partners from across the country, and much more, NMG has been hard at work attempting to build more whole, just, and safe communities.

As we continue to learn, grow, build power, and influence decisions about public safety, NMG is deeply committed to staying true to the ideals of our name -- Not My Generation -- by working to become the last generation to pass along the American gun violence epidemic to the next generation. In working with older generations, we are constantly presented with the same sentiment: “I’m sorry our generation didn’t do more. I’m sorry we left this mess for you.” While this sentiment is deeply frustrating to hear, it powers the ideals of NMG, inspiring our organizers to refuse to say the same thing to our children and our children’s children. In a recent op-ed, NMG Founder & Executive Director Kathryn Fleisher wrote on these goals, saying: “My generation, as a whole, [isn’t] shocked [about gun violence]. We simply don’t believe that ‘it will never happen to us.’ If anything, we know that our own experiences with gun violence are not predicated on questions of if gun violence will play a role in our lives, but when. We’re a generation that’s been collectively traumatized by gun violence. And this deeply personal and profoundly traumatic relationship with gun violence has given us a unique understanding of the issue; an understanding that fundamentally differs from that of older generations that made peace with leaving the American gun violence crisis for us to solve.”

Our mission at NMG is to never have to apologize to the next generation for giving up in the fight against gun violence. Our generation will not allow the American gun violence epidemic to keep a stranglehold on our country or our communities for any longer. That’s why we’re called “Not My Generation;” that’s why we work to empower young people invested in the wellbeing of their communities; that’s why we’re so deeply committed to this work, to justice, to safety, to equity; that’s why we need you to join us.

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