In Uvalde, Tex., the first of 21 funerals began on Tuesday. They will continue over the next two and a half weeks.
That same evening, over 2,000 miles away here in East Hampton, the Jewish Center of the Hamptons held an interfaith vigil at Hook Mill, offering some words of comfort on the unfathomable loss. The hope was to bring residents, local officials, and representatives of any and all East End religious orders, to “mourn together, empathize together, and begin to heal with one another.”
The shock and pain of the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School was clearly felt here, as it has been throughout the world.
“We sacrifice our children so that every American has the right to buy an assault rifle?” Rabbi Joshua Franklin of the Jewish Center asked with disbelief. “Not my children,” he repeated over and over.
The Very Rev. Denis C. Brunelle of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church shared a few sobering statistics: “Today is the 150th day of 2022, and we’ve had 230 mass shootings. That’s one-point-five a day, one every 16 hours. Last night, 10 more were [injured] in Charleston, South Carolina.”East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen also spoke: “Yesterday was Memorial Day and we honored our fallen heroes and veterans. Today, we’re honoring 21 heroes from Uvalde, Texas.” He called for a moment of silence, and then urged people not to vote for politicians who support the sale of weapons.
A group of singers, assembled by Jane Hastay, director of music at the East Hampton Presbyterian Church, paid tribute to the school shooting victims in song. “We wanted to raise our voices,” said Ms. Hastay.
East Hampton Town Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, who was in attendance, spoke with emotion: “This is a now moment. We need to do something about this now. Not in the future.”
Adam Fine, Superintendent of the East Hampton School District, asked “Why do parents send their kids to schools? Yes, academics, but also to keep them safe. In my 20-plus-year career, I can no longer guarantee their safety. If there is not a change with gun laws, we’ll be here again and again.”
He then paraphrased a powerful speech delivered by Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors basketball team, following the Uvalde shooting. Addressing everyone on Capitol Hill, Mr. Kerr asked: “Are you going to put your own desire for power ahead of the lives of our children and our elderly and our churchgoers?”
Rabbi Franklin had some impassioned questions as well. “When did we become so concerned about our individual freedoms that we became enslaved to our own guns? When did we offer people the freedom to put my kids — our kids — when did we allow them to be put in the crosshairs?” he asked.
The names of the 21 victims were read aloud: Makenna Lee Elrod, Layla Salazar, Maranda Mathis, Nevaeh Bravo, Jose Manuel Flores Jr., Xavier Lopez, Tess Marie Mata, Rojelio Torres, Eliahna Amyah Garcia, Eliahna Torres, Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, Jackie Cazares, Uziyah Garcia, Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, Jailah Nicole Silguero, Irma Garcia, Eva Mireles, Amerie Jo Garza, Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, Alithia Ramirez.
Twenty-one community members held candles in their honor, but it was too windy for them to be lighted. They were taken home, to be lit that night.
The Uvalde victims were mostly of Latino origin, but few Latino members of the local community were on hand. The Rev. Joseph Cundiff, a curate at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, noted their absence. “We announced it at our church, but we don’t have a big Hispanic congregation,” he said.
Rabbi Franklin’s words hung in the air at the end of the ceremony. “The fact that I can go to Riverhead right now, and walk into the Walmart there, and buy an assault rifle without any kind of license, or even 10 assault rifles, is way too much individual freedom. I value the lives of my children over anyone’s individual freedom to own a gun. I value the lives of tens of thousands that could be saved annually, over the desire of someone to buy, unnecessarily, an assault rifle. And I value the memory of those 19 students and two teachers from Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, too much to let their lives be sacrificed for our sympathies and broken political promises for reform and accountability. Not my children. Please God, not any of our children.”
At noon last Thursday, students across the nation walked out of their schools to send a message on gun control to elected officials: “Enough is enough.” Young activists who founded studentsdemandaction.org in 2016, and who began to speak more loudly after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018, encouraged kids and teens to “grieve with the Uvalde
community and demand action from our lawmakers.”
Among those walking out were about 300 East Hampton High School students — roughly a third of the student body — who streamed onto the football field to walk a lap in solidarity with their peers across the country. East Hampton’s marching band happened to be there, too, having been rehearsing patriotic songs for Monday’s Memorial Day parade.
Members of the media were not permitted to speak to the students, “out of an abundance of caution and concern for their safety,” administrators said.
Mr. Fine, the school superintendent, said the administration respects the students’ opinions and the ways they choose to express them. “I think our kids have had enough,” he said. “I think they’re fed up, and so am I. . . . The last time they protested was after Parkland. We’re back here again.”
He emphasized that the district has many resources available to students who find they need support. Many have come in, he said, since the start of the pandemic, and lately there have been even more seeking help.
“The pandemic was unavoidable. This,” Mr. Fine said, referring to Uvalde, “is preventable on a multitude of levels.”
With reporting by
Christine Sampson
