#sandyhookpromise

This week’s blog is written by Dion McGill, SCY Communications and Community Outreach Manager. Dion is the former Program Manager for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence.  Prior to that, Dion was a public school teacher, spending 2 years teaching middle and high school in Alaska, and 2 years in Chicago Public Schools. 

Disclaimer: ** Please note that this PSA contains graphic content related to school shootings that may be upsetting to some viewers. If you feel that this subject matter may be too difficult for you, you may choose not to watch this video. **

Every time that I sit down to write about gun violence, I take a deep breath...more like a long sigh.  Because I know that whatever I say, it will fall on ears (or eyes as you have it) in so many various ways. 

Not everyone will accept the message the same way.  

Additionally, gun violence as an epidemic in the United States is a vast topic.  It has so many facets, I could set out to write a book, and still surely not adequately touch every aspect of the topic.  

But I hope that we can all agree that the topic of this video is terrifying, tragic, and exceptionally sad. 

Now, if you’re not familiar with Sandy Hook Promise,

Sandy Hook Promise is a national non-profit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.

Based in Newtown, Connecticut, our intent is to honor all victims of gun violence by turning our tragedy into a moment of transformation by providing programs and practices that protect children and prevent the senseless, tragic loss of life. Source: Sandy Hook Promise.org

I’ve heard this PSA referred to my multiple news outlets as “shocking,” and yes, I will admit that it can definitely be described that way.  However, I would also describe it as “honest.”  I think we have to grapple with the fact that this has become our reality.  This is what many children have faced, in many high profile instances here in the United States, at the hands of fellow classmates who were easily able to obtain weapons.  

I’ve had the opportunity to meet multiple survivors of school shootings, and this is very similar to what they describe; chaos and fear, not knowing where to turn, and hiding when and wherever possible, hoping that the assailant wouldn’t come their way.  

I have twin teenage daughters who live in Florida.  I can remember all too well the terror that shot across my mind when I received the first push notification of an active school shooter in a Florida school.  

Additionally, as a former teacher, I have done lockdown drills with my students. My time in the classroom was just before the full implementation of the A.L.I.C.E. (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) approach now espoused in classrooms, but there was something especially heart breaking about discussing with 14-year-old high school freshman how the smallest people in the room should hide in the cabinets and closets of the classroom, while the others would huddle in the back corner of the classroom, or under the desks as far away from the door as possible. 

“What are you going to be doing during the lockdown Mr. McGill?” “My job is to lock the door and cover the glass as best and fast I can, and to make sure that no one comes into this classroom.” “We’re lucky we have a veteran as a teacher.  Would you really take a bullet for us. Mr. M? “ :: long pause ::  Well, that’s my job. In the Army, we always do our job.”  

Yes, that was a real exchange between a student and I.  I can remember her name, and picture her face as I sit here now.  As a soldier, I was always taught that the job came first, duty, and you do your job, and I loved my students...every stinkin’ last one of them.  I wouldn’t have been able to look myself in the mirror if I allowed something to happen to them...if I failed at my job. 

But, I often would think of my coworkers.  20-somethings with bright lives in front of them, who always wanted to teach.  How can you place that burden on your average teacher?  And yes, I can recall conversations amongst staff in the building on the days of those drills, or when we’d get news of a school shooting elsewhere (I was a classroom teacher on December 14, 2012, the day of the Sandy Hook shooting). We would talk about how the drill went, and what our true role was if that should ever happen...to mitigate casualties as best as possible.  Weird to have to think about, right? 

And yet, we have to remind ourselves that these events are preventable. According to the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, in March of 2019,

US firearm homicide rates were 25 times higher and overall homicide rates were 7.5 times higher than rates in the other high-income countries (2015).  92% of all women killed by guns and 97% of all children aged 0-4 killed by guns in high-income countries were US residents.  White firearm homicide victimization rates were 12 time higher than rates in other high-income countries.  Compared to these other countries, for US residents in high-gun states, firearm homicide victimization rates were 36 times higher and for US residents in low-gun states, firearm homicide victimization rates were 13.5 times higher.  The article, “Violent death rates  in the US compared to those in the other high-income countries, 2015” by Erin Grinshteyn and David Hemenway appears in Preventive Medicine 2019; 123:20-26

We have to remind ourselves that we can do better. 

In February of 2019, our friends at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health put out a paper, Policies to Reduce Gun Violence in Illinois: Research, Policy Analysis, and Recommendations. 

I suggest you read it.  

We are not powerless, and research is being done to find solutions to this problem.  

Which brings me to another point of this discussion.  

While the media has over the past few years spent a lot of time discussing, and this PSA does an amazing job of highlighting, the issue of school shootings in America....

...here in Chicago, gun violence looks very different, and this is something that 100% cannot get lost in the discussion. A colleague made an interesting point which I will do my best to paraphrase,

“The fear that school children all across America feel when they’re entering into their classrooms after hearing about the latest shooting, is the same fear that children across our city feel just walking from their front door to the bus stop, or from school home.”  

As a born and bred Chicagoan, I know that fear is palpable.  I’ve felt it myself, and I’ve seen it in my students.  As the Program Manager of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, I visited schools all over the state, and had pointed discussions with youth about their thoughts and feelings about gun violence. 

That fear is real, and it affects each and every youth who lives in a community where gun violence, and other types of violence, is a permanent fixture of the landscape. 

On September 25th, there is a really in Washington D.C. to demand action be taken to #EndGunViolence across our nation.  People from all over the country, Chicago included, will be converging to demand our legislators take action to decrease this epidemic.

I encourage you to check out the website endviolencetogether.com, and if possible, hop on one of the buses leaving Chicago to be a part of the event.  Sign up for a bus leaving out of Chicago, by completing and submitting this form HERE, or contacting St. Sabina directly.  

Also, call your legislators.  If they support common sense gun legislation, thank them.  If they don’t, or have been sitting on their actions, demand action now.  We can’t wait.  

I will leave you with this news segment I came across while doing some research.  The reactions of the news crew speaks volumes.