Julia Beverly reports from Austin, TX on the dire national epidemic of mass shootings at schools.
If Dylan Hockley and Daniel Barden were alive today, they’d be nineteen. It’s not hard to imagine them as young college students on spring break, maybe among the crowds of partygoers visiting Austin, Texas, the “Live Music Capital of the World,” to catch some up-and-coming bands during SXSW week.
Instead, it is their parents who are here. Nicole Hockley and Mark Barden, co-founders of the national nonprofit Sandy Hook Promise, are faced not only with the ongoing grief of losing a child, but the unenviable challenge of drawing SXSW partygoers’ attention to this grim topic. Dylan and Daniel were two of the twenty young children killed in the devastating mass shooting in December 2012 at their Connecticut elementary school, Sandy Hook.
Since enacting reasonable gun control measures has proven elusive in our trigger-happy America, Sandy Hook Promise encourages a broader focus on prevention. Their Know the Signs program encourages young people recognize the signs of a peer who might be a danger to themselves or others.
To support their mission, Sandy Hook Promise seeks donations, volunteers, and sells teddy bears.
During Sandy Hook Promise’s Artist for Action events at SXSW, mental health professionals shared their expertise, and entertainers such as pop duo Aly & AJ spoke about their own traumatic experiences as survivors of a mass shooting. Singer Ginuwine closed out the night with an energetic rendition of some of his hit songs, the stage adorned with Sandy Hook Promise teddy bears and a framed photograph of Daniel Barden and his siblings.
The Lawsuit for Survival
Just a few blocks away, a Lush Cosmetics-sponsored immersive experience called “Bloom A New Day: Activation Against Gun Violence,” served as a memorial to, sadly, hundreds of other school shooting victims.
Six years after Dylan and Daniel were among the twenty students and six faculty members killed at Sandy Hook, the same tragic story repeated itself in Parkland, Florida, where seventeen staff and students were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Manny and Patricia Oliver, parents of Joaquin Oliver, one of the students lost in Parkland, are taking a different approach. They’ve partnered with Global Action on Gun Violence to file a lawsuit against the United States government, alleging that their failure to protect children like Joaquin from gun violence is a violation of human rights law.
As the Supreme Court considers arguments in this potentially groundbreaking case, the organizers ask that supporters sign the petition here.
