Mt. Hermon AME Church have Memorial for Parkland, Florida Shooting

Mt. Hermon AME Church have Memorial for Parkland, Florida Shooting

By Byler Henry

      On February 14 in one of the deadliest school massacres seventeen people were killed, three staff members and fourteen students. Mt. Hermon AME Church put on a candlelight memorial for the seventeen victims, which also touched on the topic of ending gun violence.

There were seventeen candles lit and a moment of silence to remember the victims: Alyssa Alhadeff, 14, Scott Beigel, 35, Martin Duque Anguiano, 14, Nicholas Dworet, 17, Aaron Feis, 37, Jaime Guttenberg, 14, Chris Hixon, 49, Luke Hoyer, 15, Cara Loughran, 14, Gina Montalto, 14, Joaquin Oliver, 17, Alaina Petty, 14, Meadow Pollack, 18, Helena Ramsay, 17,  Alex Schachter, 14, Carmen Schentrup, 16, and Peter Wang, 15.

Reverend Henry E. Green Jr., was one of the first to speak at the podium. “The students of Stoneman Douglas High School, who’s friends and classmates have been mercilessly murdered. We know senseless gun related tragedies first hand in the AME church, with the loss of life at Emanuel AME Church where several parishioners were killed in a prayer meeting. We mourn the mass murders of worshipers in churches and schools across the nation.” Dylann Roof murdered nine members of the church.

Many other reverends from different churches took the podium to speak. Rev. Dr. Brett Opalinski from the United Methodist Church spoke up about being tired of having to speak under these circumstances. “I have to tell you I’m tired. I’m tired of speaking at events like this, there’s been too many these last few years, Charleston, Orlando, Parkland.” In 2016, Omar Mateen shot in an Orlando nightclub and murdered 49 people. After a standoff with the Orlando Police Department, he was shot and killed.

“We’ve come tonight to lock arms with our fellow faith participants to say indeed enough is enough. Like my friend who came before me, I am also tired.” – Rev. Cal Hopkins (Christian Methodist Episcopal Church) After all these mass shootings, many are fighting for legislation to enforce stricter gun control laws and end senseless gun violence. According to CNN, there was article published which states the United States leads the world in mass shootings. In this study, mass shootings are defined as having four or more victims, not including gang killings or multiple family members killings; between 1966 and 2012 there were 90 mass shootings in the United States. Now added to the list are the Orlando nightclub shooting, Sandy Hook Elementary, Emanuel AME Church, Colorado Theatre shooting, and the Stoneman Douglas shooting. Stricter gun laws must be enforced, because enough is indeed enough. How many more innocent people must die and how much more blood must be shed before something is done. Whether it’s children, teens, or adults, lives are being taken, and nothing is being done.