Falcon: We must do something about gun violence and students
“I heard him screaming for his mother. Mom!! Mom!! He cried,” said the elder neighbor who lives in an apartment across the street where MacKinley Malone was killed. “I heard the gunshots and then I could hear him crying and screaming. That boy died there all alone on the street.” That was my student, lying there in a pool of blood on the sidewalk, shot five times at close range from a drive-by vehicle. My heart sank when I saw the news on TV. Another one of my students lost to gun violence in Lubbock.
Michael had been in our school for a mere two weeks before he was shot. He had just been released from jail and when he first came to my class, he was quiet and shy. I worked with him every day to complete his online high school math work. Later on, I heard from his grandmother that he was happy to be at school. We will never know what Michael could’ve accomplished or how far he could’ve taken his love of school.
This litany of killings is our norm. In the last five years, we have lost five students from my school alone to gun violence. A former student of mine was killed at a nightclub, while another was shot and killed at South Plains Mall during a carnival. A student was killed in a parked car with others when a gunman shot at them. Just recently, as the rest of us were getting ready to celebrate Christmas and the new year, a 4-year-old Rise Academy preschooler Cornelius Carrington and former Monterrey 18-year-old Zequael (Rico) Diaz-Martinez were killed in two separate shootings.
In Texas, gun laws allow anyone 21 and older to carry concealed handguns anywhere, anytime and teenagers feel they can do the same. Our students carry guns out of fear, and because of peer pressure and the feeling that they need protection. They carry guns because guns signal power and intimidation. During this year’s state fair, police arrested a student after they observed him entering the premises with a weapon. Just this past week, high schools in our area were on alert for gun violence because of conversations on social media.
This epidemic of student gun violence is devastating to me and to other educators in my community. It is unacceptable and it cannot continue. I believe that there are steps we can take, to begin the process of curtailing this epidemic and ensure that all our students have a path to a future. First, we need communication and education. As a community, we need to have honest conversations about why our students feel they need to carry a weapon and how to reduce their anger, resentment, and fear. We need to hold in-school town hall meetings with parents and students about gun violence so we can strengthen community relationships. We must also hold open forums with lawmakers so they can listen to and understand our students’ reasons for carrying and using guns. Lawmakers cannot address our community’s concerns if they don’t hear directly from students.
Second, we need to engage in meaningful conversations with the police. School, city, and county police administrators and officers can have in-school town hall meetings and one-on-one conversations with students to decrease the simmering tension among them and educate them about the awful consequences of gun violence. We must have adequate staff and support in our schools to improve our students’ social and emotional well-being and help rebuild the relationships between them and those in power. Instead of teaching our students first aid techniques for treating someone who’s been shot, we need to teach them techniques for decreasing confrontation, managing disagreements, handling conflict resolution, and interacting with the police. Our police officers can initiate community outreach programs in schools to provide gun education classes and the continued presence of peace officers on our campuses can teach our students that the police can be there to listen and hear them.
Recently, Lubbock ISD received funds through the STOP School Violence Act. Using these funds, we can now create initiatives and intervention programs to build trust and communication between students, faculty, administration, and police and prevent single or future mass shootings. We must ensure no student can carry weapons in school. We must honor the safety of our schools, students, colleagues, communities, and families. We must do everything we can to secure a future for our students.
Dr. Raymond Xochitlpìlli Falcòn teaches all-level mathematics at Lubbock ISD. He is a former athletics coach, professor, Teach Plus Change Agent, and currently a Teach Plus Texas Policy Fellow. He is the founder of Teachers Against Students Killing Each Other (TASKEO).