With a tinderbox of anger and tears running high, El Paso’s citizens are looking toward one another for strength in the wake of a gunman’s massacre.
El Paso, the predominantly Hispanic border town, long loved by many for its specialness and forever tied to Marty Robbins’ classic song, is attempting to move through layers of grief in the wake of last Saturday’s massacre at a Walmart on the city’s east side.
Numbers as of Tuesday, Aug. 6, indicated that a lone gunman’s use of an assault rifle left 22 people dead, seven of which were Mexican citizens, and 25 others hospitalized.
A makeshift memorial behind the Walmart began taking shape Saturday night and continues to grow in number of visitors and items left. Everything from homemade signs, artwork, candles, crosses and handwritten notes are there.
Visiting the memorial both Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, observing people crying not only at the site but even walking up to it, gave me–a resident of El Paso–pause to think.
It needs to be stated that there is a lot of anger in people’s voices. Citizens’ voices, the ones who visit either after getting off work or going out of their way to pay their respects. They feel like their concerns are not being heard by one very important person—President Donald J. Trump.
Trump, who is scheduled to visit El Paso on Wednesday (as well as Dayton, another town rocked by a gunman’s massacre), has drawn the ire of many Hispanics for his words and statements on social media and during his campaign rallies. “Build That Wall!” is a common chant many of his followers yell out.
A privately-funded wall was built in Sunland Park, N.M., to make sure undocumented immigrants couldn’t cross into the US illegally on the city’s west side.
It didn’t stop the gunman from shooting up Walmart.
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One woman I spoke with at the memorial expressed her gratitude that a person of my skin color—white—was out there. Her eyes were filled with tears throughout our conversation. She felt both sadness over the deaths, all Hispanics, and anger toward Trump. “He does not care about us at all,” she told me.
As a young girl, she came into the United States with her family from a small town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua at 13 years old. Chihuahua is located right across from El Paso and is where Juarez is located. She said that she knew no English and could neither write or speak it. Now, she said that she’s 60 to 70 percent fluent in English. She’s a business owner in El Paso, having built her own business and established it over the past 18-20 years on the city’s east side. As she looked around at the memorial and between 200-300 people gathered along the street, her emotions ran the gamut.
Nightfall on Monday didn’t stop those from gathering. People prayed together, families leaned on one another’s shoulders, hugged, cried, and attempted to make sense of the senseless. Another individual said that people are out there at all hours of the night, whether in large or small numbers.
Upon visiting the memorial on Tuesday afternoon, people continued to come and go. A teenager was there with her friend, both teary-eyed as they looked at the flowers and crosses. When asked why they were there, one of them said, “This is our community. Why wouldn’t I be here?” Neither one was directly connected with the victims.
It didn’t matter to anyone out there because that spirit of community togetherness is very prevalent.
It also should be noted that media members from major US and Mexican networks, along with TV and radio stations from as far away as Phoenix, had set up places to report from the massacre’s sight. Interviews with politicians, both national and local, along with local officials try to bring core issues (assault rifle bans, gun legislation, immigration issues) into the light.
Once Trump visits on Wednesday, though, one doesn’t know how much longer these media outlets will remain. Those who do are the ones who have covered issues along the border before and since Trump’s presidency began. They are as much a part of the community fabric, too.
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It is the power of community, though, that deserves to be highlighted. Citizens have gathered together to purchase “ElPasoStrong” T-shirts with all monies going to the victims’ families. Funeral homes have told families of the dead that they will not have to pay for any part of burying their loved ones. Local sports athletes and teams have publicly expressed their own sadness and shock over the massacre.
Vigils have been held at different locations around the area.
When they will end is anyone’s guess.
Electronic billboards have “ELPASOSTRONG” stretched across their screens with the “SOSTRONG” part highlighted.
El Paso, one of America’s safest cities, was brought to its knees by one person’s cowardly, deviant act of hatred.
This is a beautiful town, surrounded by mountains, nature, wonderful people, and kindred souls. It is a city filled with people who have found their way here for different reasons: work, life, change in scenery, and others.
From its knees, though, the town and people of El Paso arise in the spirit of resiliency and refuse to let this massacre define who they – and we – are at all.
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