Last Tuesday, a group of Davidson College students gathered at 11am by the flagpole to honor the memory of 15 year old Hadiya Pendleton from Chicago, who was
fatally shot in the back just a week after performing at President Obama’s
second inauguration. Hadiya was an honors student, volleyball player, and loved
to dance. She was hanging out with friends after school when a gunman opened
fire on the group and shot Hadiya in the back as she tried to flee. Her godfather told
reporters, “Her
parents had done everything right and she was doing everything right.”
A few students spoke at the vigil and a moment of silence was held in memory of Hadiya. One student at the vigil read a poem entitled "The Revolver" by Carl Sandburg.
Here is a revolver.
It has an amazing language all its own.
It delivers unmistakable ultimatums.
It is the last word.
A simple, little human forefinger can tell a terrible story with it.
Hunger, fear, revenge, robbery hide behind it.
It is the claw of the jungle made quick and powerful.
It is the club of the savage turned to magnificent precision.
It is more rapid than any judge or court of law.
It is less subtle and treacherous than any one lawyer or ten.
When it has spoken, the case can not be appealed to the supreme court, nor any mandamus nor any injunction nor any stay of execution in and interfere with the original purpose.
And nothing in human philosophy persists more strangely than the old belief that God is always on the side of those who have the most revolvers.
One student who attended the vigil said, "I think it's important that as a Davidson community we remain connected to national issues, especially when they affect the lives of young people. The story of Hadiya Pendleton was tragic and should not go unnoticed."
Carol Quillen, Davidson’s President, made an appearance at
the vigil and briefly talked with students about gun violence. She told us
about how she had signed a letter with over three hundred college and
university presidents to urge our politicians to enact “rational gun safety
measures, including:
- Ensuring the safety of our communities by opposing legislation allowing guns on our campuses and in our classrooms
- Ending the gun show loophole, which allows for the purchase of guns from unlicensed sellers without a criminal background check
- Reinstating the ban on military-style semi-automatic assault weapons along with high-capacity ammunition magazines
- Requiring consumer safety standards for all guns, such as safety locks, access prevention laws, and regulations to identify, prevent and correct manufacturing defects”
You can read the entire letter at http://collegepresidentsforgunsafety.org/
*On another Davidson note, the letter is part of an initiative started by one of Davidson’s own Elizabeth Kiss of Agnes Scott College (’83), and her colleague Lawrence M. Schall, president of Oglethorpe University. (NPR.org)
I was struck by Hadiya's godfather's comments about her when he said, "she was doing everything right." Many people associate shootings in Chicago with criminals and gang members. This is not always the case; Hadiya and her parents were "doing everything right," and tragedy still struck their family. We'd like to think that if we do everything right, we will be successful and live long happy lives. But life is fragile and every day is a blessing. People like Hadiya, who do everything right, are being murdered every day. If we had a vigil for every victim of gun violence at our flag pole, we would be gathering about 30 times each day.
However, as tragic as this occasion was, I found comfort in the fact that my fellow students (and President) saw the importance of drawing attention to the issue and showing support of gun safety measures. President Quillen did right by showing her commitment to not only the safety of the Davidson students on campus, but also to the safety and well-being of all Americans--a commitment I believe we are all called to take part in.
*On another Davidson note, the letter is part of an initiative started by one of Davidson’s own Elizabeth Kiss of Agnes Scott College (’83), and her colleague Lawrence M. Schall, president of Oglethorpe University. (NPR.org)
I was struck by Hadiya's godfather's comments about her when he said, "she was doing everything right." Many people associate shootings in Chicago with criminals and gang members. This is not always the case; Hadiya and her parents were "doing everything right," and tragedy still struck their family. We'd like to think that if we do everything right, we will be successful and live long happy lives. But life is fragile and every day is a blessing. People like Hadiya, who do everything right, are being murdered every day. If we had a vigil for every victim of gun violence at our flag pole, we would be gathering about 30 times each day.
However, as tragic as this occasion was, I found comfort in the fact that my fellow students (and President) saw the importance of drawing attention to the issue and showing support of gun safety measures. President Quillen did right by showing her commitment to not only the safety of the Davidson students on campus, but also to the safety and well-being of all Americans--a commitment I believe we are all called to take part in.
While Hadiya Pendleton's passing was tragic, it should not be used for political gain. Just as the horrific tragedy that occurred in Connecticut should not be an excuse to push through legislation that has been sitting around since '04.
ReplyDeleteChicago is one the leader's of the nation in both firearm control and crimes committed with firearms. In Illinois you already need a license to buy a firearm, and it is already illegal to bring a firearm from another state into Illinois, just as it is already illegal to kill someone. Even if the federal laws were just as strong as Chicago's, it would not stop someone from committing a crime by bringing in firearms from loosely-controlled states such as Mexico (which has already, for all practical purposes, banned civilian possession of firearms).
So your laws would do nothing but infringe upon the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
So nice to see students standing up to speak out against these tragic deaths, looking for solutions to gun violence that kills Americans every day. Glad Presiden Quillen showed up, too. I only hope this tide of concern will grow and will not fade as the time grows between us and the Newtown tragedy that woke up so many citizens. If we don't try to do something about gun violence, we are as guilty as the perpetrators.
ReplyDelete15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton from Chicago was murdered in Chicago, a city that already has some of America's strictest gun laws. If gun laws actually "worked" to prevent gun crimes, then Chicago would be one of the most gun-crime-free cities on this earth. Instead, Chicago had 500+ gun-related murders last year.
ReplyDeleteThe face of gun crime in Chicago is as black as the ace of spades. Two black male youths were arrested and charged with the murder of the black female youth Hadiya Pendleton. Black people are 100% responsible for the gun violence in Chicago's black community; disarming white people who live outside of Chicago, and even outside the state of Illinois, is not the answer. Disarming black people who live in Chicago is the answer. Gun violence in Chicago would pretty much end if that ever happened, since it's always black people pulling the trigger there.
I'm from Northeastern Pennsylvania. Been here my whole life. About 20 years ago, my best friend in college was murdered. He wasn't shot with a gun though - he was stabbed to death with a knife. The cops still don't know who murdered my friend. I also know a family whose daughter was murdered. A schizophrenic guy bashed her head in with a baseball bat. He attacked her in broad daylight on a street down in Philadelphia where she was going to college. At least the cops arrested the guy, but she was already long dead by then.
ReplyDeleteYou gun control supporters never want to talk about cases like what happened to my friend and this poor girl I just mentioned above. It's only when people are murdered with the "right" weapon - a gun - that you get all outraged and demand that our politicians "do" something about it. That "something" typically being another scheme to trample upon the Second Amendment of the US Constitution.
Well, let me tell you all something. I own several of these so-called "military-style semi-automatic assault weapons" and a good amount of these so-called "high-capacity ammunition magazines" to go with them. All of this is within my rights as an American. The simple fact is that according to the FBI's own crime statistics, more people are murdered each and every year with knives, like my friend from college was, and baseball bats, like that girl in Philadelphia was, than with any type of so-called "assault weapon" that is out there.
So all of you gun control people, Obama, Biden, and every other anti-gun politician out there can go pound sand as far as I am concerned. Come back to me when you are ready to talk about how we can keep violent criminals, and then mentally insane, locked up in the institutions where they belong for longer amounts of time instead of infringing upon my rights.