Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was attacked on Tuesday, May 24. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed by a gunman who spent more than an hour barricaded in a classroom while police and Border Patrol agents stood idly by.
Parents on the scene were held back as their children sat inside the school. There were police officers present as the shooter walked into the building, but they opted to not break into the classroom as people were killed.
Over a dozen families are left to grieve their children who will never get their driver’s license, see a graduation day or start a new job. The two faculty members who put their lives on the line in an attempt to save their defenseless fourth-grade students will never be able to go home.
A thousand factors led to this tragedy. We can discuss the way Hollywood glamorizes violence through popular films. We can scream on Twitter about gun reform and government hypocrisy. We could make fun of President Joe Biden for acting like he has no power.
We can mourn in solidarity.
However, questioning the immigration status of the shooter is not the way to cope. Using loss as a scapegoat for racism is never an appropriate reaction.
We saw it with the spike of anti-Asian sentiment that came with COVID-19 and with the New York City subway shooting, and we are seeing it now. Many will leap at the chance to blame an entire marginalized group instead of facing the root causes of tragedy in our country.
The shooting was an act of evil, but singling out immigration questions the identity of every brown and Black person in this country. This is especially damaging in this crisis, as most of the victims came from Latinx families.
Imagine how infuriating it must feel for them to see ignorant people online turning the death of their children into a border policy discussion.
I know what journalists entertaining the thought and white people questioning the immigration status of the shooter on Twitter think they are doing.
It has become so tiring to witness horrendous takes on a daily basis and to see people turn every horrifying event into discourse. The saddest part is that there is always one result. People talk for a week, but nothing changes. Politicians pour more money into the National Rifle Association, the military and violent legislation. It will happen again, and the cycle will restart.
None of this does anything to benefit the common people. We are always the victims.
How productive is it to make the victims feel unsafe? How helpful was it to overload the scene with CBP agents who pose a threat to the Uvalde community? How out of touch do you have to be to use this as a critique on immigration?
There are 21 victims. The town of Uvalde is in mourning, and they cannot even be respected enough to feel safe.
