Along the way, theyve sparred with Fox News Laura Ingraham and worked with inner-city violence interrupters nationwide.
Read on below, and purchase your copy of the bookhere.
Understand everything in the context of our life thats really what this book was for us.
Credit: Rich Schultz/AP/REX/Shutterstock; Penguin Random House
I think what it will be for other people is a chance to really learn about empathy and caring.
Know that when you see these people die on the news, theyre people.
They arent characters, not numbers.
LAUREN HOGG:This book was really helpful in beginning the healing process for me and David.
By doing this, it was kind of doing both.
It was kind of a break from this, although it was still talking about it.
I feel like were closer than most siblings.
That sounds so cheesy, but we kind of are because we talk about everything together.
We always have these really deep conversations in the car driving to school.
Were just people who have experienced this thing that we shouldnt have had to.
Reading the list of shooting victims from Columbine until today was heartbreaking.
I ask why not, you know?
We were able to stop the Vietnam War.
We were able to end that.
We were also able to get to the moon in a decade.
Im pretty sure we can end this war too.
You talk about gun violence as a national issue beyond just school shootings.
David, you werejust in Chicago, on the South Side working with Interrupters.
This has been happening in communities of color, been happening in Native American and poor communities for centuries.
The first mass shooting was Wounded Knee, if you really want to think about it that way.
We have to be intersectional to end it here.
We have to listen and understand and empathize with them.
Dont say youre sorry.
Say, Im fighting for you.
Its something they deal with every single day.
Something that, when they walk to school, they hear gunshots.
They just keep walking, and theyre told not to look.
So allowing these people to talk about what theyve experienced is one of the most important things for us.
Meanwhile, theyre dying on the streets.
Why re-engage her?DH:We have to stand up to people who are bullies, honestly.
And be around your friends.
Love people for who they are.
Dont hate them for what theyre not.
See other people as human beings regardless of their political beliefs, even if they disagree with you.
Thats what voting is for.
LH:Having conversations with your family or friends, and especially those who dont agree with you.
Doing that is really what makes a change.
DH:And enjoy time with your friends while you’ve got the option to.
Life is too damn short not to.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
