As we move through a busy summer, Vidas Robadas, Texas Impact’s gun violence prevention campaign, is reaching a year old. With that milestone in mind, I have been reflecting on how the program has changed. When we first started this project, it was described as an awareness campaign – a project that shows how present and relevant gun violence is in our communities. While that is still true, Vidas Robadas has evolved to become more than that. It has become a flexible and far-reaching project that humanizes gun violence in a way that is relatable to everyone, while still highlighting issues such as racial inequity. The ability of Vidas Robadas to be both universal and specific was especially apparent this past month.
In the past three weeks, I have attended 3 separate events: the 3rd annual Violence Prevention Conference by the Harris County Public Health Office, the Gun Violence Prevention Summit in the US Virgin Islands by Clergy for Safe Cities, and most recently a Community Conversation in Fort Worth at New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church to discuss a string of shootings following July 4th.
These events were led and mostly attended by the black community. To the participants gun violence was not an issue they weren’t aware of – it has been something that has traumatized their communities for years. In this context, Vidas Robadas became a tool to help process that trauma – a means by which people could see a visual display of the loss their community has experienced. Gun violence has been killing their loved ones for years and it was not until the mass shooting era that other communities have started to engage in gun violence prevention work.
Mass shootings have created a new level of concern for gun violence by most Americans. Shootings have been increasing in frequency and deadliness for the past few decades. They create such high levels of anxiety in our society partly because of their unpredictability. They can happen anywhere to anyone. Nothing demonstrates that more than the most recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. One of the most powerful and protected people in the world was almost shot and killed by another American. While the details of the incident are still coming out, it is obvious that our current political situation is volatile. Tensions are high.
Now gun violence is a complicated issue. Gun violence rates have risen and fallen several times through the years due to a variety of factors. For instance, recent crime trends show national averages of gun homicides seem to be decreasing from peak levels in 2020. Yet despite this decrease, mass shootings are still on the rise and people are more concerned about gun violence than ever. That is again the effect of the mass shooting era: the feeling that at any time anyone could get shot. It is something the black community has been experience for decades with little to no support.
Part of what has changed is that our political environment has become hyper polarized and aggressive. Politics have made all of us tribalistic and fearful, while also arming us to the teeth. We have become a nation of arms where any altercation could turn deadly and any public gathering a tragedy. Mass shootings and political violence are the products of this. They show how easy it is to make people violent and how easy it is for that violence to be ruinous. Whether or not crimes rates are high, it is too easy to kill someone and we all feel it. It is here that Vidas Robadas’s real purpose has started to become clear. It is a rallying flag that speaks to our universal anxiety.
Vidas Robadas is a powerful invocation of our collective grief and fear. While there are different types of gun violence and people have different levels of familiarity with it, everyone feels its weight. Vidas Robadas’s main purpose is not just to educate communities on gun violence, but to rally people together to create collective power. There are so many groups working on so many incredible ways to reduce gun violence in their communities, but no one group or program is going to end gun violence on its own. It is by connecting the various advocates, faith communities, and public officials together to share resources and work in every avenue possible that we will see real lasting change.
We have to continue to work on legislation, community initiatives, and culture change. We have to change our relationship with firearms. There can and has to be a middle ground where firearm ownership is a part of our society without sacrificing public safety. A lot of smart people like those at the Harris County Public Health Office or Clergy for Safe Cities are making real change, but they need support. If you want to be a part of the movement and work to protect communities from gun violence, please join our Ending Gun Violence Team or host a Vidas Robadas installation. Only through rallying together can we holistically address gun violence.