Jazmine Wildcat Talks Gun Control with Teen Vogue
JAZMINE WILDCAT, 14
“I gotta admit, my résumé is pretty long,” Jazmine tells Teen Vogue. She is a percussionist in the Wyoming all-state marching band, a swimmer, a soccer player, a Science Olympiad member, a volunteer with the Special Olympics, a Gen-I Ambassador with the Center for Native American Youth, an earth ambassador with the United National Indian Tribal Youth, and, most recently, an activist who is appealing to lawmakers for sensible gun laws to protect young people from violence.
Her family are members of the Northern Arapaho Tribe and own guns, as do most people in Riverton, Wyoming, the rural, conservative community where they live. By writing letters to lawmakers and calling for change around gun laws, Jazmine has been going against the grain and has already faced opposition from those who disagree. “I have my work cut out for me,” she says. “Just [demanding] what anyone else would want when fighting for what they believe in: change for the best. We cannot just sit here and wait for the next violent event to happen.”
Jazmine on Teen Vogue: