The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Department of Public Health Sciences co-sponsored This Is America – Mass Shooting Memorial Event, a self-guided tour of various mass shooting events that have occurred throughout the years. The event was created and hosted by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) alumni and University of Miami students.
After the Parkland tragedy in February 2018, MSD alumni and University of Miami students gathered at a campus-held vigil and relied on each other for support. Alexander Margetts, an MSD alumni and neuroscience student at UM, remembers feeling powerless – the tragedy had taken 17 lives in a place close to his heart.
“I knew that I had to do something to keep this kind of loss of life from happening in any other community,” Margetts said.
Two days after the shooting, Margetts, who is also a research assistant at the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, began planning for an event to memorialize the victims and spread awareness on the effects of gun violence. He spoke to other MSD alumni at the vigil and realized that there were many students who also felt passionate about bringing an event like this to life.
After connecting with a few more students, the anticipated event now had a 15-member executive board who would plan and fundraise, with Margetts as co-president, Cathy De Freitas, a senior and vice president of student government, as co-president, and Gabriela Nahous, a senior, as founding member. Six out of the thirteen executive board members were MSD graduates.
From left to right: Juliana Reyes, Kaitlin Hahn, Makayla Manning, Ally Schwartz, Gabriela Nahous, Alexander Margetts, Catherine De Freitas, Meghana Dumpa, Brandon Chou, and Sayesha Reddi.
The goal was to create an event similar to Tunnel of Oppression, a multimedia exhibit created by students that challenge people’s views on topics dealing with oppression, but to create a more closed-in environment by using tents. The closed-in space would make the attendees experience the inability to escape, similar to what the victims of the tragedies felt. Each tent would also comprise of pictures, videos, recordings, and statistics on various mass shootings.
“We wanted to create these different tents and really make an impact on people. Seeing videos and hearing the different recordings would make people feel. The more they felt, the more they could understand the situation,” De Freitas said.
After a year’s worth of planning, fundraising and creating, a total of 468 students, faculty and staff attended This Is America – Mass Shooting Memorial Event on April 22, 2019. The event took place at the Student Complex Center from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Attendees began their journey through the event with an introduction room, followed by eight tents, and reflection room, where they talked about the event and their experiences with gun violence. In the reflection room, 150 attendees also signed up to join non-profit organizations and 70 signed a petition to ban assault weapons in the state of Florida.
The tents, which were created and organized by students, represented the tragedies in MSD Senior High School in Parkland, Fla., as well as in Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Fla., Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.
“The Sandy Hook tent really hit me hard. I am from Long Island, which is right across from where Newtown is. I remember that day like it was yesterday, so walking inside that tent was very tough,” said Josh Dinetz, a media management student and vice chair of Hurricane Productions.
“We had to wear headsets for each of the tents so it made the experience more riveting and emotional. I also attended the event with the trauma surgeon,” David Lee, Ph.D., professor and graduate programs director at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, added.
Dr. George Garcia, a trauma surgeon at UHealth and previous Army Veteran, was invited to speak at the event and shared with attendees the effects of bullets on the human body, how he copes and on his expertise at the Ryder Trauma Center, and the effects on family members and victims after gun violence.
“I appreciated his emotional honesty with the group about how these things impact him personally,” Lee said.
While the executive board initially thought that fundraising for the event would be a challenge, it was an easier process than they had imagined. Once Margetts and De Freitas began meeting with potential sponsors, many departments and organizations within and outside the University contributed, including the Butler Center for Service and Leadership.
“It is important that our students have the ability to create programs and events that they are passionate about and have been affected by personally. These events also allow the faculty staff and students to be further educated on these issues, while also honoring the victims that have been part of these mass shootings,” said Andrew Wiemer, director of programs at the Butler Center for Service and Leadership.
Other sponsors included the Student Government, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, Hurricane Productions, University of Miami Hillel, University of Miami Association of Greek Letter Organization, the University of Miami Master of Public Administration program, UMTV, ECO Agency, and The David Project.
After a great response this year and with a passion to continue to make a difference, the executive board hopes to plan for and host the event again next year.
“Gun violence is a public health issue. Regardless of what stance people have, it's an issue that needs to be solved and we hope to continue to raise awareness,” Nahous said.
