The excitement and joy of the first day of school for Mundo Verde’s J.F. Cook campus was shattered early this afternoon by a nearby shooting on O Street that left two individuals dead and at least three others wounded. While our staff performed emergency procedures incredibly well, and our 560 students remained safe, a situation like this leaves students, staff, and families understandably frightened. In our nation’s capital, gun violence has killed 237 individuals and wounded another 703 since August 24, 2021, according to Gun Violence Archive.
We are a school community that is diverse by design and grounded in what we call ESPICA: our habits of community stewardship, which include inquiry. In that spirit, we teach our students to think deeply, to question and keep questioning superficial answers. Yet, how do we explain that what is shocking occurs regularly?
Whether on the street, in a school, or in a grocery store, gun violence is a plague in our local community, and an indicator of both entrenched racism and governance gone horribly wrong. While a shock to some, shootings are an all too commonplace and deeply painful occurrence in neighborhoods across Washington, DC. Why does this uniquely American form of violence persist?