A Letter to the NY Times Magazine

Below is a copy of the letter I wrote to the New York Times in response to an article about preparing first responders and students for future school shootings. The article was accompanied by many, many graphic photos of school students covered with fake blood and simulated gunshot wounds. My letter was not printed. Nor were any letters printed regarding that article/photo essay. I find it hard to believe there were no other readers with strong reactions to the images. Moreover, the Times has gone on to feature many, many articles about how families are coping with the aftermath of mass/school shootings, how teachers are arming themselves, etc. There is a dearth of articles that focus on communities and families that face the everyday threat of gun violence and its aftermath. The letter:

To the Editor:

What is so unsettling about the article, and accompanying photographs, "Hell Drill" is the fact that, once again, after a school shooting, there is a great hue and cry and heaps of attention paid to the horrible incident (as there should be) and great outpouring of outrage (as there should be) but rarely, if ever, sympathetic and empathetic coverage of the daily carnage in some of our communities. What exactly is accomplished by showing us the fake blood and telling us stories of trauma that is created for this exercise?

A different approach is taken by Souls Shot Portrait Project, which uses the transformational power of art to bring awareness to the daily cost of gun violence. The project pairs fine artists with family and friends of victims of gun violence in order to create portraits representing the lives lived. The portraits are diverse in style, approach, and mediums and, when presented in touring exhibitions, create an invitational, rather than confrontational, environment. These artworks make connections, bring viewers to a place of empathy and move them to take action.

Our country has a truly shameful disregard for the facts about guns.

We are sidetracked by talk of mental illness, gang activity, gory photos of play-acting victims in drills, and a very dismissive attitude towards gun deaths in black and brown communities.

Where are the articles about the people getting rich from pedaling guns to underserved communities whose young people have endured generations of systemically racist policies depriving children and young people of quality educational and recreational opportunities? Where are the interviews with the families who have lost loved ones to guns fired at them because of mistaken identity, because they were in the path of a stray bullet, because they were trying to stop an argument, because the shooter had no skills to end a dispute other than firing a gun? Where are the articles disclosing the reasons for gun violence in certain communities?

Sincerely,

Laura Madeleine