Oprah Winfrey has matched a $500,000 donation by actor George Clooney and wife Amal in support of the “March For Our Lives” student rally in D.C. next month for stricter gun control laws.
Winfrey, 64, compared the youth activists rallying in the wake of this month’s deadly Florida school shooting to civil rights activists of the 1960s who defied racial segregation in Southern states.
“George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more,” she tweeted on Feb. 20. “I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March For Our Lives.’ 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.”
The media mogul called the battle for gun control an “evolving moment for our country.”
“The same thing happened, as you know, back in the ’50s and ’60s for the civil rights movement,” Winfrey told The Associated Press on Saturday. “Young people said, ‘We will not tolerate what our ancestors have tolerated. We have had enough and we’re willing to fight for it and willing to march in the streets for it and, if necessary, die for it.’
“These young people get to be literally warriors of the light,” she said. “That’s what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to — through their voices, through the March for Our Lives — say, ‘We will not let this happen again. We are going to do what we can to banish the darkness.’”
