Last Thursday, May 26th, community members from diverse backgrounds gathered at St. James Episcopal Church in Austin, TX to pray and mourn for the victims of the devastating mass shootings in Buffalo, NY and Uvalde, TX in recent weeks. Shaimaa Zayan, CAIR-TX Austin & DFW (CAIR-TX) Community Relations Coordinator attended the program. During the vigil, representatives from local faith communities reflected on loss, grief, and the moral obligation to take action in the wake of such tragedies. In addition to faith leaders, there were also teachers, students, and local school administrators in attendance, who spoke about the changing experience of education and safety in Texas classrooms over the past decade.
Austin mayor Steve Adler also spoke at the vigil, focusing on the need for increased accessibility of mental health services and the importance of maintaining hope as a community. Speeches from other attendees condemned the unthinkable crimes, showed solidarity with the parents and loved ones of the deceased, and went further in asking officials to take more decisive action to reform gun legislation. The program ended with the lighting of candles and a group prayer. Afterwards, information was provided to attendees about how they can take direct action by contacting their legislators.
Among the take-aways from the vigil:
- "We are stronger together"
- "The safety burden at schools should be taken off our children's shoulders and be on the officials' shoulders"
- "What happened cannot be explained by mental health issues rather hatred and evil"
- "We are failing as a nation. We are failing even our children, but we refuse to stay there”
CAIR-TX is committed to working with communities of faith and no-faith to pass sensible gun reform laws to keep our nation safe.