I asked Lucy McBath to tell me about her son, Jordan Davis. She welcomed the opportunity.

“Thank you for asking,” she says. “Some people say ‘Oh, I’m afraid to ask,’ I’m like ‘No, ask me about him.’ It helps keep him alive for me.”

Jordan was a really, good kid — thoughtful and kind. Raised mostly by McBath in Atlanta, he made friends easily, and invited them over to his house for home-cooked meals and sleepovers.

“He was the kind of kid that would bring people together. He was really, really good at that,” she says. “He was really good at being the center of attention, like the light.”

Jordan was curious and inquisitive. He enjoyed learning about history, social sciences, and other cultures. As a child, he once spent a year pretending he could speak Japanese.

That’s the son McBath remembers.

“He had all kinds of friends. I was very proud of that, that he had that kind of ability to love people. Simply love people for who they were.”

Photo via Lucy McBath, used with permission.

Jordan Davis was shot and killed on Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, in Jacksonville, Florida.

It was the day after Thanksgiving. Jordan, 17, was in an SUV with three friends, picking up snacks and cigarettes from a gas station convenience store. Michael David Dunn and his girlfriend were in town for a wedding and pulled into the next parking space. Dunn told the boys to turn down their music. After a shouting match with Jordan, Dunn alleged that Jordan opened the door of the SUV and pointed a shotgun in his direction. Dunn took a handgun out of his glove box and started shooting into the SUV.

Tommie, the driver and Jordan’s friend, floored the SUV backward, fleeing the gunfire. Dunn opened his door one more time to get a few more shots off. He later told police he feared for his life, though police never found a shotgun in or around the SUV, and witnesses never saw one.

In the aftermath, Dunn sped away to his hotel. The boys pulled into a nearby shopping center to assess the damage. Three of them were physically unscathed but covered in blood. Jordan was hit three times. He gasped for air and died shortly after. Dunn and his girlfriend didn’t call the police. In fact, they made drinks and ordered a pizza.

McBath was in Chicago with her family for Thanksgiving while Jordan had stayed with his father in Jacksonville. The night of the shooting, McBath felt compelled to slip away from the table and go to the bedroom.

“I had no reason to go to the bedroom,” she says. “When I got up there, I saw Jordan’s father’s face on the phone as the phone was lighting up, and that was the first phone call that I got.”

At that moment, a cruel, indelible line etched itself on her life — before Jordan and after.

‌Lucy McBath, mother of Jordan Davis, cries during a Hillary Clinton for South Carolina Breaking Down Barriers forum. Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images. ‌

During his trial, Dunn cited the language of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

Florida and 23 other states allow individuals to use deadly force to defend or protect themselves against real or perceived threats. Stand Your Ground laws made the headlines in 2012 when another Florida man, George Zimmerman, “stood his ground” against Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old kid holding an iced tea and Skittles. Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon and, after a well-publicized trial, walked away a free man.

George Zimmerman leaves the courtroom a free man after being found not guilty. Photo by Joe Burbank-Pool/Getty Images. ‌

Dunn, however, was convicted of attempted murder for shooting at the other boys in the car. After a mistrial and retrial, nearly two years after the shooting, Dunn was convicted of the murder of Jordan Davis. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

“We are very grateful that justice has been served, justice not only for Jordan, but justice for Trayvon (Martin) and justice for all the nameless, faceless children and people that will never have a voice,” McBath told the press after Dunn’s retrial.

Since Jordan’s murder, McBath has worked tirelessly for gun violence prevention.

Just months after the shooting, McBath was asked to speak about “Stand Your Ground” legislation in Georgia. One opportunity led to another, and before long, she was approached by the gun violence prevention advocacy group, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America to become their volunteer national spokesperson.

‌Lucy McBath testifies during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Stand Your Ground” laws in Washington, D.C. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images. ‌

Moms Demand Action was formed by a stay-at-home mom three days after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The group now has more than 6,000 volunteers in all 50 states and 4 million supporters working to  advance real policy changes at the municipal, state, and national levels.

“We are the largest nonpartisan gun violence prevention organization in the country,” McBath says. “We have helped pass background checks on all gun sales in seven states. We have passed laws in 24 states to prevent domestic abusers from getting guns.”

McBath is now on staff for Moms Demand Action, working to engage people of color, faith communities, and other traditionally underrepresented groups in the gun violence prevention conversation. The fight is hard, but each victory feels good and keeps her close to her son.

But as many victories McBath has had as a gun violence prevention advocate, there’s still one outstanding: speaking directly to NRA leadership.

While the opportunity to speak with the lobby’s executives hasn’t presented itself, McBath knows just what she’ll say. It’s clearly written on her heart and pours out of her effortlessly, filled with fire and vigor.  (Emphasis added.)

“I would say to them, they have placed profit over public safety. That they have had their hands in the back pockets of our legislators, and that we are no longer going to allow them to do that. … We understand what they’re doing and we will continue to fight them tooth and nail. They might be a Goliath, but we are the David and we will continue to challenge them every moment we get. … We will empower citizens as to the truth of what they’re doing. And we will continue to protect our families and our communities against their extremist agenda of guns everywhere, every place, no questions asked. We are not afraid of them. And we will continue to build our army in opposition to their extremist agenda. And they can count on that.”

Her words ring out like a rallying cry. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, gun violence is infecting our communities. And it must stop.

Lucy McBath (right) delivers remarks as Geneva Reed-Veal (center), mother of Sandra Bland; Gwen Carr (second from left), mother of Eric Garner; and Annette Nance-Holt (left), mother of Blair Holt look on during the second day of the Democratic National Convention. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.‌

Lucy McBath can’t bring her son back. But sharing his story and fighting for common sense reforms could save someone else’s.

And through her advocacy work, Jordan’s legacy lives on in safer schools, communities, and public spaces. His is a light that will never go out.

‌Photo via Lucy McBath, used with permission.

“He was a really good, kid.”

Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/5-years-ago-an-angry-man-with-a-gun-killed-her-son-heres-her-message-to-the-nra

On Tuesday morning, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to wind down former President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Announced in June 2012, DACA was implemented to give undocumented immigrants who were brought here as children some peace of mind while Congress worked on a longer-term solution to the country’s immigration woes. After the Trump administration announced that it would be ending the program over the next six months, Obama delivered a powerful defense of his original action and the people it helped.

1. “This is about young people who grew up in America — kids who study in our schools, young adults who are starting careers, patriots who pledge allegiance to our flag,” Obama wrote.

The people benefitting from DACA didn’t do anything to cause their current predicament. As young children, they were brought here, and it’s the only home many have ever known.

“These Dreamers are Americans in their hearts, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper. They were brought to this country by their parents, sometimes even as infants. They may not know a country besides ours. They may not even know a language besides English. They often have no idea they’re undocumented until they apply for a job, or college, or a driver’s license.”

President Obama met with a group of DACA recipients in the Oval Office in February 2015. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

2. “Over the years, politicians of both parties have worked together to write legislation that would have told these young people … you’ll get a chance to stay and earn your citizenship”

Critics chide Obama for performing an end-run around Congress in implementing DACA, but the truth is he had pushed the legislature to take action. It was only after the bill, known as the DREAM Act, stalled again that Obama did what he could with an executive order. Inaction wasn’t an option, as some 800,000 people who were brought to this country as children and never knew any other country as home floated in limbo.

The goal of the DREAM Act was to provide legal status and a path to citizenship for these young people provided they met a number of requirements (such as going to college or serving in the military).

“That bill never came. And because it made no sense to expel talented, driven, patriotic young people from the only country they know solely because of the actions of their parents, my administration acted to lift the shadow of deportation from these young people, so that they could continue to contribute to our communities and our country.”

President Obama and immigration activist Astrid Silva after a speech in November 2014. Photo by Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images.

3. “To target these young people is wrong — because they have done nothing wrong.”

Beyond that, removing those who are here because of DACA makes us a weaker country both culturally and economically.

“It is self-defeating — because they want to start new businesses, staff our labs, serve in our military, and otherwise contribute to the country we love. And it is cruel. What if our kid’s science teacher, or our friendly neighbor turns out to be a Dreamer? Where are we supposed to send her? To a country she doesn’t know or remember, with a language she may not even speak?”

A group of immigrants at a naturalization ceremony in September 2015. Photo by John Moore/Getty Images.

4. “Let’s be clear: the action taken today isn’t required legally. It’s a political decision, and a moral question.”

The immigration system is a mess, and it does need reform. People across the political spectrum agree that something needs to be done about our current set of laws and regulations, but to take that out on the Dreamers is nothing short of hard-hearted.

“And now that the White House has shifted its responsibility for these young people to Congress, it’s up to Members of Congress to protect these young people and our future. I’m heartened by those who’ve suggested that they should. And I join my voice with the majority of Americans who hope they step up and do it with a sense of moral urgency that matches the urgency these young people feel.”

A young child joins a crowd outside the White House to support Obama’s immigration action in 2014. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

5. “Ultimately, this is about basic decency. … It’s about who we are as a people — and who we want to be.”

Obama closes out his statement with a message about the essence of what it means to be an American that’s followed him from his early days in politics to his post-presidential career. With the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who are Americans for all intents and purposes on the line, it’s a message that may be more important than ever before.

“What makes us American is not a question of what we look like, or where our names come from, or the way we pray. What makes us American is our fidelity to a set of ideals – that all of us are created equal; that all of us deserve the chance to make of our lives what we will; that all of us share an obligation to stand up, speak out, and secure our most cherished values for the next generation. That’s how America has traveled this far. That’s how, if we keep at it, we will ultimately reach that more perfect union.”

Obama announces the DACA program in June 2012. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.

Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/obamas-heartfelt-post-on-daca-is-going-viral

Early man. A proud, chiseled, oil-chested warrior who roamed the land, hauling boulders to build his boulder house and punching mastodons in the throat.

Early woman. A helpless homemaker who to tended her 15-37 children and gathered grapes from the local grape bush.

It’s an enduring image, oft repeated in literature, film, and car insurance commercials.

And it might just be a little-to-a-lot wrong.

A new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Stone and Bronze Age women did a lot more traveling than their male counterparts — at least in one region of Europe.

“HEY!” Photo by Stadtarchaologie Augsburg.

The researchers examined the remains of 84 individuals buried south of Augsburg, Germany. Through chemical and genetic analysis, they determined that a majority of the men were born locally, while the bulk of the women hailed from Central Germany or Bohemia in modern-day Czech Republic, hundreds of miles away.

“We see a great diversity of different female lineages, which would occur if over time many women relocated to the Lech Valley from somewhere else,” Alissa Mittnik, one of the study’s lead researchers, said in a statement.

The “foreign” women were buried with the same rites as the men, indicating that they had been integrated into local society.

Most traveled as individuals, rather than in groups, suggesting that they were “moving for marriage, not for servitude or something like that,” Mittnik told Inverse in an interview.

Researchers believe this “institutionalized form of individual mobility” was a key driver of cultural exchange.

Many of the tools and technology found at the sites were determined to have originated farther north, evidence that they may have been brought by the women.

By the standards of their era, these women were world travelers.

The researchers hope that further study will provide more clues as to how freely, frequently, and extensively Bronze Age humans migrated.

A car maybe woulda helped. Photo by Alex Mihis/Pexels.

The ancient women of Central Europe may not have hunted mastodons, but they’re continuing to upend conventional wisdom of gender dynamics in millennia-old human societies and assumptions about the way things have always been.

While the historical record frequently marginalizes the contributions of women, the study is evidence that, in at least one region of the world, their migration was crucial to the cultural and technological advancement of their societies, even if it was for marriage.

Certainly beats picking grapes.

Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/ancient-skeletons-are-upending-what-we-know-about-how-far-women-traveled-in-the-stone-age

A truck driver estimates the depth of the water surrounding him near an abandoned truck. Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images.

With President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown looming and Hurricane Harvey’s devastating effects still unaccounted for, many undocumented Houstonians were left to wonder if it was safe to leave their homes and seek help during the storm.

But Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is also a lawyer, is standing up for his city’s undocumented residents.

At a press conference Monday, he offered an unambiguous show of support.

“If you need help and someone comes and they require help, and then for some reason, then somebody tries to deport them, I will represent them myself, OK?” Turner said.

The mayor, who is a member of the State Bar of Texas, stood by his controversial decision not to issue an evacuation order for the city. He urged residents to seek help regardless of their immigration status. “I and others will be the first ones to stand up with you,” he said.

An estimated 575,000 undocumented immigrants live in the Houston metropolitan area.

During 2008’s Hurricane Ike, the last major hurricane to hit Texas, federal officials de-emphasized immigration enforcement in their communication to the public.

Airmen assess the damage after Ike. Photo by Paul Flipse/US Air Force via Getty Images.

“We’re not going to be bogging people down with checks or doing things to delay the rapid movement of people out of the zone of danger,” Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary at the time, said.

In sharp contrast, the Texas Tribune reported Thursday that U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) checkpoints would remain open during Harvey, prompting fears that undocumented residents of the city could be apprehended while trying to evacuate.

The following day, the agency clarified that the checkpoints would “close as state highways close” but that those outside the hurricane’s range would remain open during the storm. In a joint statement, CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced they would be suspending enforcement operations at evacuation sites, shelters, and food banks.

As rumors swirl about immigration enforcement, at least Houston’s city government is working to calm anxious residents enough to request the services they need.

“We want you to call,” Turner said in the press conference. “There is absolutely no reason why anyone should not call.”

A mayor shouldn’t have to stand up and offer legal services just so his city’s residents can get help in a life-threatening crisis. But it’s good to see he’s willing to do whatever it takes to bring people to safety.

Read more: http://www.upworthy.com/houstons-mayor-sent-a-blunt-message-of-support-to-undocumented-immigrants-fleeing-harvey