New Yorkers paid their respects Thursday to the lives lost in the devastating Texas school shooting that left 21 dead.
Mourners gathered all over the city on May 26 to stand in solidarity with the families whose lives have been torn apart due to another mass shooting.
In Foley Square, Youth Over Guns held a gathering at 4 p.m. to not only remember the victims but also to denounce the inseparable fusion of the firearm’s role in modern-day Americana.
Beginning with a moment of silence and name readings from both the Texas and Buffalo tragedies, attendees struggled to fight back tears–especially when the ages of the victims were reiterated. Lugging signs that demanded an end to the unbridled killing, the group roared: “Enough is enough!”
“It is not enough for us to stand here after a mass shooting, it is critical that we show up every time there’s a life lost. Gun violence is happening in our backyard across New York City and so I appreciate everybody that showed today,” Luis Jonathan Hernandez said, co-founder of Youth Over Guns.
Later that evening more New Yorkers gathered in Union Square Park at 7 p.m. Organized by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the vigil also looked to mourn the monumental loss of human life in both Buffalo and Texas.
A series of boards were erected around the park which allowed attendees to write words of emotional support for victims. Musical performances also honored the dead.
“It doesn’t get any easier. Each time I stand up here, each time I hear about another child, another neighbor, another victim to this endless and gutting pain that hurts like it did the very first time–maybe that is a good thing. The gun lobby, the NRA, republican politicians, they want us to grow numb to this constant pain but for me, and I am sure for so many of you, each tragedy only reopens a wound that never fully heals,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said.
