Caption : Sarah Clements tells why the #Fight4the33 somber mob is important to her, and why young Americans are organizing for gun violence prevention.

Caption : Sarah Clements tells why the #Fight4the33 somber mob is important to her, and why young Americans are organizing for gun violence prevention.

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On December 14, 2012, Sarah Clements‘ mother survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Turning that painful experience into positive action, Clements, a Senior at Newtown High School, founded the Junior Newtown Action Alliance to address the issue of gun violence.

Sarah joined with students from Duke Ellington High School in Washington, D.C., and Director of the National Jazz Theater of Harlem, Jon Batiste, for a dance performance for a new video called #Fight4The33 as a reminder of the 33 Americans a day that die from gun violence.

#Fight4The33 marks the anniversary week of the Virginia Tech and Columbine High School shootings in addition to a year ago when Congress failed to pass comprehensive background check legislation even though more than 90 percent of Americans supported the bill’s passage into law.

“With an average of 33 people being killed by gun violence a day, we have to prove to our elected officials that this issue is bigger than the politics, bigger than the numbers. That is 33 family members, 33 friends, 33 potential great minds and innovative ideas every single day,” Clements said. “I fight for the 33 because there are solutions. It’s not impossible to change. I fight for the 33 because a promise was broken a year ago after one of the most devastating tragedies in our nation’s history, the shooting in my town of Newtown, CT.”

Clements and the her fellow somber mob participants organized to remind Congress that our generation is holding them accountable to make a change.

To Sarah, the fight for common-sense gun legislation is a fight for the future of her generation.

“Gun violence is not a talking point or a political stance to young Americans. We are most disproportionately affected by gun violence, and this somber mob expresses through real stories and the arts how essential it is to the future well-being of our nation to address this issue in our communities, whether D.C., Newtown, Aurora, or Chicago,” Clements said.

Young Americans like Clements are standing up to remind elected officials that they are beholden to their constituents, not pro-gun lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA).

“Elected officials told the American people that lobby money is more worthwhile than the lives of their constituents and the safety of their home communities,” Clements said. “So today we must pick up and reevaluate our promises, ponder our values as a people, and act to save our neighbors.”

The somber mob is to remind Congress that 33 lives are lost each day because of its inaction. It’s about letting Congress know that every life cut short by gun violence is a story, that every gun violence death sends ripples outwards, impacting families, parents, children, friends, and loved ones.