Photo Credit: DFree / Shutterstock.com
Alyssa Milano is taking a stand. The actress and activist is the leader of collective action campaign #NoRA, which highlights and combats the NRA’s influence over the American political system. The organization recently teamed up with artists, dancers and choreographers to sponsor “Too Many Bodies”, a music video that tackles the issue of gun violence through dance. The video, which premiered in Los Angeles last month at a panel discussion at Art of Elysium, brought together the LA community and featured a multidisciplinary panel of artists that discussed how art can be used to educate, advocate, and heal. We chatted with the “Insatiable” star about her work with the campaign and why she will never be afraid to take a stand and use her voice.
Photo Credit: Jamie Lamor Thompson/Shutterstock
Let’s talk about “Too Many Bodies.” What do you think of the concept? Why does it work? Were you involved in the making of the video?
While the video came to us already made, we couldn’t be more proud of it. It works because our response to shootings like these need to be emotional – numbers don’t work anymore. If numbers worked, we’d have fixed the problem of school shootings after Columbine. “Too Many Bodies” connects us deeply, emotionally to the epidemic of school shootings. It makes us stop and pay attention. It gives us a context for the terrible numbers in school shootings.
Why is #NoRA such a personal cause to you?
I challenge anyone to meet one parent who’s lost a child, one child whose parent dies by gun suicide, any child who’s had to hide in a closet while someone outside with an assault weapon guns down their classmates, and not make it personal. There’s nothing in this nation which kills so many and about which we do so little. It has to be personal.
Photo Credit: Too Many Bodies.org
What changes would you like to see enforced as a result of your work with #NoRA?
We want a government that can have an honest discussion about gun violence. We want to get all of the low-hanging fruit, the things that should be easy like taking the guns of accused domestic abusers, like enacting red flag laws that would allow those closest to someone likely to commit gun violence to have their guns temporarily removed, like background checks for every gun sale, and prevent the home printing of untraceable plastic guns. Let’s get those done, let’s save some lives.
You’re someone who isn’t afraid to come forward when she has a problem. Have you always been that way? If not, what was the catalyst for making you so unafraid to use your voice?
We live in a time when there are no shortage of injustices. Activism is a responsibility – once we know there is a problem ,that others are suffering in a way that they do not need to suffer, it becomes our responsibility to do what we can to fix it. Not all of us can fight every fight, but we can all do something. We can all register someone to vote. We can all make a phone call or send an email or write a letter. My first real leap into activism was when I was fifteen and I kissed my friend Ryan White on television to prove you can’t get HIV/AIDS from casual contact. I’ve never looked back. Once you start speaking up for what’s right, it’s scarier to remain silent than it is to make noise.
Photo Credit: Too Many Bodies.org
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