Oprah Winfrey: Student Gun Control Marchers Like 60s Civil Right Activists

BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 07: In this handout photo provided by NBCUniversal, Oprah Winf
Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday and said the teen Parkland, Florida shooting survivors at the forefront of a new gun control push are like the Civil Rights Movement activist of the 1960s.

“This is a moment. This is exactly what happened during the Civil Rights Movement where people … they were 18-, 19-, 20-years old, young people who said, ‘We have had enough. Enough,'” Winfrey told DeGeneres of the students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and across the country who walked out of class this week in support of more gun control laws. “These kids are right there.”

Encouraging the gun control protesters to get “organized,” Oprah Winfrey said the “reason why the Civil Rights Movement worked, [is because] there was a strategy. There was a plan. It wasn’t just out there, hocus pocus protesting all the time. There was a strategy, there was a plan.”

The OWN boss joined George and Amal Clooney on Tuesday in pledging $500,000 to the student gun control “March for Our Lives,” which is organizing a planned march next month.

“George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more. I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March For Our Lives,'” Winfrey tweeted.

“These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the 60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard,” she wrote.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

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