‘These children should not be dead’: Idaho community mourns after Uvalde school shooting
Students, parents and community members embraced each other as they stood on the steps of the Idaho Capitol and listened to the names of the 19 children and two teachers who were killed at an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
They put their arms around one another and rested their heads on friends’ shoulders as they heard about the lives of those who died — their aspirations, their hobbies and the ways they served their community.
About 100 people gathered Tuesday night for a vigil to remember and honor the 21 people killed last week in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history. The vigil was organized by Idaho’s chapter of March for Our Lives.
Kate Stevens, the Idaho chapter lead for the organization, said after the shooting, she wanted to do something to honor those who died.
“It’s important to take time to remember that these people are people, and not pawns for any political agenda,” she told the Idaho Statesman. “And that they had brothers, and sisters, and moms, and dads, and grandparents, and family, and friends.”
At the vigil, posters with the names and faces of those who died sat on the steps, surrounded by flowers.
Those who died were little kids going to school and teachers who were trying to do their job, Stevens said, and that got taken away from them.
‘We cannot continue to allow this to happen’
At the beginning of the vigil, Stevens told the crowd the event was not about politics, but she said the massacre should never have happened.
“This was a preventable tragedy,” she said, “and massacres like this will continue to happen until action is taken.”
The children who died, she said, will never get to go to their first PG-13 movie alone, go through “weird stages of obsessions with random hobbies,” drive themselves to school or know the feeling of getting their braces off. Their parents and families will never get to hug their children again, kiss them goodbye, hear their laughter or see their smile, she said.
Stevens directly address the survivors of the massacre. She apologized to them that their school, which is supposed to be safe, was “turned into a shooting range.”
“I’m sorry your innocence was taken away from you too early. We honor your bravery, but acknowledge that you should not have had to be brave,” she said. “These children should not be dead right now. They should be out on the playground with friends, blowing bubbles are playing tag.”
She added: “We cannot continue to allow this to happen. We must do something.”
Olivia Luna, a high school junior, then read the names of each person who died in the shooting, followed by three minutes of silence.
Luna said she thought it was important to stand up on the steps of the Capitol and read each name.
“‘Since the vast majority of the people who fell victim to this were Hispanic, I found it really powerful,” said Luna, who is Hispanic. “Because in history, it’s really easy to just wipe those kinds of names. But being able to read them in front of everyone was really powerful for me personally.”
Moms Demand Action, others join vigil, call for change
Many people at the vigil wore red shirts reading “Moms Demand Action,” a group that seeks to reduce gun violence and fights for public safety.
Malena Schubin, who co-leads Idaho’s chapter, said she has two teenage sons and worries about them every day when they go to school. She joined the organization because she wanted to do something to create change, she said.
“It’s not a good feeling to worry about that on a daily basis,” she told the Statesman.
After she saw the shooting in Uvalde, she said she was heartbroken. She and other volunteers from the organization were calling each other and crying, she said.
“I was so devastated that first day, and the next day, I was just furious,” she said. “I just had to do something myself.”
After the vigil, people were invited to draw in chalk on the sidewalk outside the Capitol. They wrote phrases including: “Will our school be next,” “When will this stop,” and “Save our children.”
Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, called the vigil the “most special tribute” she’d seen, in which people came together in “solidarity and love” to remember those who died.
“I think it’s the first time that I’ve really felt, with all the media and the terrible images,” she told the Statesman.
Last session, Wintrow worked with a group of students, including Stevens, in an attempt to pass a resolution on gun violence. Legislators refused to introduce the resolution.
She said she’d encourage students to contact their legislators again and ask them to have a conversation and enact reasonable policies to increase public safety.
Stevens said seeing the turnout at the vigil gave her hope. This moment is an opportunity for change, she said.
“We have an opening right now to fix it in the wake of something like this,” she told the Statesman. “So let’s band together. Let’s do it.”
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 9:48 AM.
