On Wednesday evening, precisely one year to the day since our state’s worst-ever school shooting rocked the southwest Texas town of Uvalde, hundreds gathered for a vigil at an outdoor amphitheater sandwiched between the city’s civic center and the Leona River. The crowd, as Uvaldeans have done at a litany of public events since last May 24, wore custom-made shirts depicting the 19 children and two teachers lost in the Robb Elementary shooting, or maroon t-shirts reading “Uvalde Strong.” It was a family affair, with little kids squirming and playing and occasionally running across the stage at inopportune times.
The event began with a prayer followed by a release of live butterflies that had been distributed earlier. John Quiñones of ABC News spoke about his outlet’s year-long effort covering the shooting’s fallout, which included setting up a local office. Activists with the gun control group Newtown Action Alliance addressed the need for firearm control. And children and a teacher, Arnulfo Reyes, who survived the Robb Elementary shooting, lit candles for the assemblage to hold.
In what seemed to be a crowd-favorite moment, Tamir Kalifa, a photojournalist who’s closely covered the shooting’s fallout for families for the last year, sang an original song written for one of the kids lost that day: Jackie Cazares, 9, whose favorite color was sage green and who dreamed of traveling to Paris. “All of the things little Jackie, all of the things little Jackie, all of the things little Jackie could have been,” the song concluded. Kalifa also delivered a Jewish prayer, finishing with a recitation of the 21 names and the words: “May their memory be a blessing.”
