CODE RED: YOUTH OF THE NATION

CODE RED: YOUTH OF THE NATION is about the tangible solutions to the horrible increase in school shootings in the United States. Highlighting the school shooting in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the film is extremely emotional and informative. The interviews with the students, teachers and law enforcement are very powerful. CODE RED requires only a caution for younger children.

The movie uses the example of the Parkland shooting to form 11 lessons that could help solve the dramatic increase in school shootings.

For instance, after a period of being very tough on anyone who showed any extreme antisocial behavior, the school system became very lax. Thus, the shooter at Parkland had a record of torturing animals, shooting guns and being enamored of Nazi symbols and propaganda. He even posted a video of himself saying he wanted to be immortalized by killing the greatest number of people. However, there was no discipline or removal from the school where he could hurt others. In brief, one lesson was that there was a system failure.

Another lesson police should have adhered to is you have to run toward the sound of the gun, not away from the sound, in order to stop the shooter as soon as possible. In Parkland, one officer hid, and two other officers left the scene, giving the shooter plenty of time to kill more people. These officers were later disciplined.

Another lesson was that only two teachers had been taught what to do in a Code Red. Thus, it’s common for a school shooter to pull the fire alarm so that everyone comes running into the hallways to be in his or her line of fire. The teachers who knew what to do kept their students safe in their room although some students were very angry and afraid of an actual fire.

This very emotional documentary is narrated by our friend, Bailee Madison, who grew up in the school’s county. According to the documentary, by 2021, there were 56 and a half million students in schools, 51 million in public schools, and during the four previous years, including 2021, there were 120 shootings, with 231 dead and over 500 injured. The teachers said they used to think their neighborhood schools are safe. Now, the school is the majority of children’s greatest fear.

Now available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google, Microsoft and YouTube, CODE RED is a must-see movie, very well edited, with very positive solutions to the problem, which also cohere with common sense. That said, the movie talks about death and violence and the type of people who commit such crimes, so caution is advised for younger children.