In the Wake of Santa Fe, Student Activists Face Inaction

Written for COM CO 201 at Boston University

Erica Huang
Sep 8, 2018 · 4 min read

Less than two weeks after a school shooting in Santa Fe left ten people dead, students around the US are confronting a continued lack of government action against gun violence and a stagnation in activism.

A feeling of inevitability surrounding school shootings is supported by sobering numbers. In 2018 alone, there have been 23 school shootings in the US in which someone was hurt or killed according to CNN– a number which averages more than 1 shooting per week.

Teachers and students alike are finding themselves desensitized to the violence. “The most troubling thing to me today was how ready I was for it,” said California public school teacher Gwyneth Davies, following a lockdown at her school due to someone carrying a gun in the area. “I was like, of course there’s a man with a gun.” When asked about the children’s reaction, she said, “They were mostly pretty unfazed which was the most chilling part of it.”

In preparation for such events, regular lockdown drills are becoming commonplace across the country, setting new norms for American children. “I had one just a month ago” said sixth grader Evan Huang, a student in the New York public school system. He expressed surprise at the notion that they were anything out of the ordinary. “We’ve been doing them since like, first grade.”

Many students outside the US are shocked by the regularity with which these school shootings happen, and the lack of legislature protecting students against gun violence.

“It’s an aberration and symptomatic of a corrupt political system that values money over the lives of the most vulnerable members of society,” said Mahmoud Elbanhawi, a recent graduate of the London School of Economics. Elbanhawi went through school systems in Alexandria, Egypt; Doha, Qatar; and Paris, France before moving to London for university. “As for my (or any) education system I can’t imagine any such systemic and flagrant infringements of student’s most basic rights to safety.”

But for students activists inside the US, working to change the system presents its own set of problems.

“Because I live in New York, all of my representatives are democrats that support stricter gun legislation so calling their offices and leaving messages that they already agree with doesn’t feel productive,” said Boston University senior Michelle Moriarty, giving voice to a frustration that many young people face when confronting the strongly partisan political system.

Other students have called on their peers to take action. After the Parkland school shooting left seventeen dead, Shawna James, a recent graduate of Boston University, organized a school walkout at BU.

“There was a call for college students to get involved to mobilize the masses in Boston. I took the chance,” James said. However, the event did not draw the crowds that she had hoped for, and James expressed disappointment in her fellow students for not attending. “I really felt the momentum was lacking. There is no perfect way to be an activist or stay involved– it is hard to be on every issue 100%– but I think we can do ourselves a favor by remembering that showing up is 80% of the job,” James said.

Moriarty also called on her peers to take action, using the power of internet crowdsourcing to raise funds. “In response to the Santa Fe High School shooting, the 101st mass shooting in America THIS YEAR, I am raising money for Everytown for Gun Safety” Moriarty wrote in a Facebook post. Her fundraiser was successful, raising its $500 goal in less than a week, with the vast majority of the contributors being other college students.

“I don’t know how much the $500 I raised will do, but it’s something,” said Moriarty. “I am encouraged by the fact that my fundraiser was almost entirely funded by students. I think it says something when a young person with a little extra cash chooses to donate $20 to a cause.”

Online platforms are becoming increasingly popular outlets for students to raise awareness as well as to share their frustrations. Many of these posts directly call out a lack of action by lawmakers to pass gun control legislation.

“Keep your ‘thoughts and prayers’. They don’t mean anything anymore,” wrote Hannah Beebe, a BU senior, in a Facebook response to a list of congress members who took money from the NRA and then tweeted their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims of the Las Vegas shooting, an event which occurred seven months prior to the Santa Fe incident and left 58 people dead. Davies responded to the list as well, saying “Enough was enough the first time this happened and the endlessness of this cycle is not just sickening, it’s fatal.”

When asked about the state of young people’s morale after continued inaction by the government and a lack of ability to incite change, Moriarty said, “I still feel hopeful that sensible gun legislation can be passed, but I do worry that people are beginning to feel helpless and indifferent.”

“After the Parkland shooting, the survivors were on the cover of TIME, David Hogg was on TV debating with Marco Rubio, and 200,000 people were demonstrating in Washington DC for March for our Lives,” Moriarty continued. “After the Santa Fe shooting, nothing happened.”

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