Peace advocates gathered at First United Church of Oak Park Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil where family and friends who have lost loved ones to gun violence shared a victim’s name, age and a characteristic about them.
After each name, the roughly 60 attendees responded “presente!” which means “present,” to acknowledge their lasing spirit.
“One of the major impacts or directions we focus on in a vigil like that is the concern for surviving families,” said Lois Thiessen Love, an organizer of the event. “These deaths cause great havoc.”
Waging Peace of First United Church of Oak Park partnered with several local organizations including Oak Park-Austin Area Moms Demand Action, MothersOnAMission28 and others to organize the vigil. It was timed to coincide with the 11-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting on Dec. 14, 2012, and to recognize the American victims and survivors of gun violence since then.
Oak Park resident Colette Davion-Douglas said her niece was killed by gun violence. She attended the vigil with the intention to support those affected by gun violence and expressed her desire to curb violence, saying that she hopes one day the United States could be a nation without guns.
“They say ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people,’” she said. “But people wouldn’t be killing people with guns if there were no guns.”
Love, Sandy Jefferson, Tara Dull and Celine Woznica were a few organizers of this year’s vigil. Each of them is concerned about gun violence and committed to promoting peace.
Dull said she has several reasons for promoting an end to gun violence: her Christian faith, her responsibility as a social worker who focuses on child welfare and inspiration from her parents. Her father, a pastor from Connecticut, led a funeral for a 6-year-old child who was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, she said.
“I know that my parents, and especially my dad, are haunted forever because of that,” she said.
Jefferson said his advocacy for ending gun violence comes from personal experience. His cousin was shot 13 times while on his front porch after being mistaken for a gang member. He survived, but had to endure several years of rehab, he said. Another cousin of his, who was 20, was recently shot and killed while walking to the store, his one-year-old baby left behind.
The Sandy Hook vigil has been coordinated annually in Oak Park since 2013. Love, Jefferson and Dull are members of Waging Peace of First United Church of Oak Park, while Woznica is a member of the Peace & Justice Committee at Ascension and St. Edmund Roman Catholic Parish.
The vigil focuses on the Sandy Hook shooting because it was one of the first mass shootings that had multiple child deaths, Love said, and kicked off a national movement for ending gun violence. During his time in office, which coincided with the Sandy Hook shooting, former U.S. President Barack Obama tried to pass gun legislation but was unable.
“At that moment, it became very clear that the power had to go into the hands of activists,” Dull said. “If anything was going to happen, it would need a mighty wave from the people.”
Participants received a battery-operated tealight candle in cups with details of the horrors of school shootings taped to them: “children killed in their classroom.” “Young people shot in their high school and college campuses.” After each phrase was said aloud, attendees brought their candles to an alter at the front, watching the light grow brighter as the number of candles with their descriptions grew.
They then participated in prayers read aloud, sang hymns and hung ribbons with messages of peace outside the church.
Uneq’ka McNeal sang a song called “What Child” about children losing their lives to gun violence or even participating in gun violence to the tune of the hymn “What Child is This.”
“Whose child is this who decided to take a life?” she sang. “Is he misguided or is he dying only inside?”
Guests later attended a reception in the church where groups that provide support for those who have been affected by gun violence were present to provide support.
One of the largest forms of gun violence, according to Pew Research Center, is suicide. Dull said she wants family members who have lost loved ones through suicide with guns to feel welcome at these vigils, as they might feel not represented in conversations about gun violence. Love said she has multiple friends who have lost sons to gun violence, inspiring her to advocate for an end to gun violence.
“One of the main features of hosting the vigil, in addition to honoring victims and survivors, is building a community and the sense of support,” Love said.
Love said she hopes participants at the vigil feel comforted as part of a community and are encouraged by not being alone. Without vigils such as this one, gun violence becomes normal, Dull said, and we all become numb to the terrifying reality.
Oak Park recently passed an ordinance addressing safe storage of firearms, which reduces the risk of gun violence by preventing unintentional shootings, suicides and gun theft, according to the Village of Oak Park.
The ordinance requires firearms to be secured by a locking device, with only the authorized individual knowing the combination or location of the key. It also states that a firearm unattended in a vehicle within view is not secure. Love said she would like school principals and superintendents in Oak Park to share information with families about safe storage of firearms.
“We can make a change in our country’s culture,” Dull said. “There’s power in community.”
Correction 12/15/23: A previous version of this article misstated Sandy Jefferson’s pronouns. We regret the error.