No, Parkland survivor Emma González did not rip up the Constitution

If you’ve been on social media in the past week, you’ve probably noticed people have a lot of opinions about the March for Our Lives, gun control, and school shootings. A lot of opinions.

And if you’ve been on social media like Facebook and Twitter over the past few years, you’ve probably also noticed memes and images that seem doctored, or plainly put, photoshopped.



Young people speak at March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Getty Images)

Here’s the problem. The image isn’t real. It’s taken from a video created by Teen Vogueshowing González — surrounded by several fellow teenagers who survived the Parkland shooting — tearing up a paper shooting target.

Here are the two images side by side, as shared by an outraged Twitter user. The original photo with the target is crisp and can be traced back to the Teen Vogue shoot. The other shows the teenager with her face seemingly altered to have large dark circles under her eyes, ripping up a cartoonish version of the Constitution.

People on Twitter aren’t having it, and are repeatedly calling out anyone who shares the image.Others noted that the changes whoever created the fake image made to the teen —  who, it bears repeating, recently survived a school shooting – look very different.And some just pointed out that the image looks really, really fake.González and her fellow survivors emerged onto the national stage just three days after the deadly Feb. 14 shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School. González’s riveting, 11-minute “we call BS” speech a few days after the shooting went viral, thrusting her into the national spotlight, which only intensified after her speech at the March for Our Lives rally in D.C.