PARKLAND, Fla. – Manuel Oliver’s life changed on Feb. 14, 2018. That was when his son Joaquin Oliver went to school and never returned after a gunman entered the school and murdered 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
He’s been to Washington, D.C., many times since that tragic day.
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“I will travel to Washington, D.C., to remind politicians that once upon a time there was a kid called Joaquin Oliver that was shot inside his school,” says Oliver.
Our interview was on Feb. 14, 2019, a year after the shooting that took his son’s life.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW BELOW:
He and his wife, Patricia, founded the nonprofit organization and named it for something Joaquin said two weeks before he was killed.
Change the Ref, the advocacy group that the Olivers co-founded, uses art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the reality of the epidemic rampant through the United States as it relates to gun violence. The Olivers also want to let the public know about the relationships between the National Rifle Association and politicians who, they say, are influenced by financial contributions from the gun group.
“I don’t want to be here in the next ten years having another interview with you and letting you know that I haven’t accomplished anything. I want to get rid of the NRA. I want to make sure that they aren’t manipulating some of our politicians,” Oliver says in an interview with The Florida Files.
Oliver tells the story that during a basketball game, Joaquin was ejected for disagreeing with the referee on a call. He told his father that he believed that the referee was receiving compensation from the other team. “He told me, ‘Dad, we need to change the ref if we are looking for a fair game.’ "