10 min away from a special #Boulder city council meeting to address the shooting. I will be watching and live tweeting as necessary. State and federal officials will be speaking, as well as local electeds and some community members.
Tbh, I'm not sure how much I will tweet. Though I appreciate their representation of Boulder at this difficult time, politicians aren't really who I want to hear from right now.
So I will be here, but I'll only tweet what I find adds to the conversation, rather than just adding to the noise.
Reminder: You can watch here bouldercolorado.gov/boulder8
or here
Governor Jared Polis, a Boulder resident, is on the Zoom.
Interpretation tonight is being provided in Spanish and Bosnian, which is new.
That is likely because of the background of one of the victims, Neven Stanisic, 23. 💔 denverpost.com/2021/03/23/bou…
Also live ASL interpretation. Boulder has relied on CC in the past.
Nagle is absent but she'll be coming later, Mayor Weaver said. All other council members present.
Weaver: We are here to figure out what our next steps are, "to hear from the community what you think our next steps should be."
You can email council as a whole here: council@bouldercolorado.gov
Or find their individual emails and numbers (a better option) by going to their individual pages here. bouldercolorado.gov/city-council/m…
Or find their individual emails and numbers (a better option) by going to their individual pages here. bouldercolorado.gov/city-council/m…
Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis, of St. Aidan's, and Rabbi Fred Greene, of Har Hashem, reading the names of the victims.
"Even when we feel most discouraged, love is never extinguished," Rabbi Greene intones. "Help us to build a world that is safer for all people."
"Let peace descend upon us," Rejouis says.
"Boulder, at the end of the day, is a small, tightknit community," Polis says. "I have several friends that lost someone they knew well. ... Whether you know someone or not, personally, who perished, this was a blow to our entire community."
"It happened here. ... It could be any grocery store, anywhere in our state, anywhere in our country."
Polis: There will be talk of a motive, or why this happened. "There is no motive or explanation that can justify the action or relieve the pain of those left behind or of our community."
"I want to encourage everyone to give ourselves the space to grief, to be angry, to be confused .... We must do everything we can to keep ourselves and others from becoming desensitized to our pain."
Sen. Steve Fenberg: Shootings like this are unfortunately normal. "As nothing was normal, bc of this pandemic ... this is something we haven't seen a whole lot of, fortunately."
"That's the thing that makes me so angry. That back to normal has to include that."
Also references Atlanta-area shooting. These events "are not normal ... at least to any other country."
"For the families," Fenberg says, "it's going to be an impossibly long road. We have to be there, to show up for them. .... Our role, first and foremost, is to be neighbors. To continue to show love and grace."
"I'm not going to get into a lot of policy discussion," Fenberg says. "Idk that that would be appropriate." But those conversations "about what can be done at the state level" (RE: gun control) are ongoing.
Specifically calls out Boulder's recently put-on-hold assault weapons ban. "That's inadequate." More needed to keep communities safe.
"There's obviously not a single solution. But that can't keep us from seeking solutions and taking steps that will make our community safer."
"This is a community that does show up," Fenberg says. "We need to channel that .... to be tighter than ever."
Fenberg: "At the state level .... we are eager to have those conversations .... I can't say with any confidence that I know what is going to happen ... Everything is going to be on the table."
We will do "whatever is in our power, whatever is most effective and will make the most change" — including allowing Boulder "to go above and beyond" state law.
Some would say it's too soon to start talking about this, Fenberg says. I get that; I respect it. "Personally, I think it's obviously too late."
Congressman Joe Neguse here as well.
One small nitpicky item RE: the broadcast: They put the speaker's video as the full screen, which renders the ASL interpretation completely pointless to anyone watching, bc you can't see it.
"Federal resources will be available," Neguse pledges. The country is thinking of our community.
Thanks the press as well, specifically calling out the Daily Camera and Mitchell Byars. ♥️
Neguse: "The last time I was here (at a council meeting) was as a citizen," not an elected official, testifying in support of the assault weapons ban that his now-staffer Jill Grano proposed in 2018.
"It doesn't have to be this way," Neguse says. He has "always been a supporter" of reinstating the federal assault weapons ban. "I will not stop, as long as I have the privilege of representing this community," of advocating.
"I intend to come back to this council, hopefully one day soon, with the news that those measures are law."
An unfortunate meeting to have so many technical difficulties. But that's local gov't, folks. Unglamorous. Real. Not camera-ready.
Apologies, I lost internet access for a minute. On my phone now. "We are going to put a tax on the ballot county wide to support mental health services" in 2022 says Rep. Judy Amabile.
Rep. Edie Hooton fighting tears as she speaks. "This is going to be with us for a long time. ... To recognize that grief and shock is where we want to be."
But elected officials, "we are being called to act. Do something now."
We need to "act responsibly and thoughtfully. ... We will be introducing legislation in response to this."
We will partner with mental health providers, Moms Demand Action, the Gifford Foundation and others already doing this work, Hooton says.
George Eliopulos, chief medical officer at Mental Health Partners, remembering Officer Talley who distinguished himself by his "commission."
Dr. E, as he calls himself, reminding ppl: This trauma, these feelings, are going to come back up as news emerges, when the trial starts, etc. Be ready for that.
"Self-care right now is very important. Whatever you do for self-care — walk, exercise, pray, meditate — now is a great time to continue or start doing that," Dr. E says.
Resources here: mhpcolorado.org/community-in-m…
"There's really not a wrong front door," Dr. E says. "Go in any front door and we'll get you to the right place."
Reach out yourselves, Dr. E says, and also reach out if there's somebody in your orbit that you are concerned about. Call us, ask us what you can do.
We have a recording from a judge in El Paso, TX, which has seen its own mass shooting and violence. He reached out to Boulder to offer support.
Judge Ricardo A. Samaniego: "We are now brothers and sisters."
When El Paso saw its shooting, Santa Fe, TX, leaders contacted Samaniego and said to get ready to help the next community. The Midland, TX, shooting happened within 30 days.
💔
"Only in unity can we bring out the best in humanity and overcome the hatred in our society that led to these acts," Samaniego says.
I'm sorry, I need to take a minute.
Tracy Smith, of the Islamic Center of Boulder: We don't want to take focus from the victims. ... We have members of our community who are in great fear simply bc of the name of the shooter. Please check in with your Muslim neighbors.
"He does not represent Islam; he just happens to have a Muslim name," Smith says.
ICB has suspended some services out of security concerns, Smith says. Women are afraid to wear their hijabs; many are afraid to leave their homes.
"This is not about us," Smith says. "We are all residents of Boulder. We feel the great sadness" what happened, "and stand shoulder to shoulder" with one another.
Rev. Nicole Lamarche of Community United Church of Christ. "Let this wound be a window into another world. ... We must push and pray now. ... May hope find you, wherever you are."
Apologies for the gaps; trying to keep it together.
Rev. Randy Spaulding of Boulder Mennonite adapting a bible verse for modern times. Isaiah 2:4, "and they shall beat their swords into plowshares."
Longing for a day when weapons of destruction are turned into gardening tools, Spaulding says.
Longing for a day when weapons of destruction are turned into gardening tools, Spaulding says.
Madelyn Strong Woodley, representing Boulder County NAACP first enumerates the recent work at police reform and then speaks of "the absolute necessity to stand with our police force and city leaders."
And directly to Officer Talley's wife and children: "I know the days are dark. ... Lean on each other with all you got. ... We feel for you, we are with you. We are all working in our own ways to make sure we can support you. We ask that you reach back out to us."
"I'd also ask we encourage and stand for the family of the shooter," Woodley says. "We don't know what they're going through, but we know they didn't plan on this."
Justice "will take the course that is laid out, and that it should."
"We must not let tomorrow come, and the sting we first felt Monday when this happened ... we must not let that fade," Woodley says. "Keep the sting stinging. It's through that we'll get the change we so desperately need."
Amy Nelson, a BVSD special education teacher who taught Denny Stong: "I asked friends, 'How do I do this without crying?' They said, 'You don't.'"
Nelson used to teach at Fairview. Sharing very moving testimony, memories of Denny Stong. 💔
"This felt and still feels like too much," Nelson says. Two months ago, she attended the funerals of two students who died in car crashes.
"Think of all members of our community," Nelson says. "The entire community is grieving. We must hold space ... and think about how we collectively care for each other."
Pearce Lembitz, a 5th-grader in south Boulder: "The victims could have been any one of us. Even my mom, who does her grocery shopping before she picks us up at school at 3:15."
"Please keep us safe in the future."
Soraya Latiff, from CU's school of education: It feels like we are going through this grief without much institutional support.
"This has been regarded as a once-in-a-lifetime shooting in Boulder, but we know that" so many lives have been lost to gun violence. "We don't heal by viewing our wounds as isolated and insulated."
"May we not wait to be in community until after tragedy, but may we practice being in community every day," Latiff says. "Violence shouldn't have to arrive at our door for us to care, but sadly it did."
"May we not separate our healing from our politics."
Geoff Cahoon, of the Boulder Area Labor Council, comparing gun control to the history of labor organizing: "We fight and we lose. We fight and we lose. We fight and we lose. Then we fight and we win."
Gun safety is something we can solve, Cahoon says. Mental health is something we can improve upon.
Cahoon quoting Joe Hill: "Don't mourn. Organize."
Por qué no los dos?
Council meeting now broadcasting speakers live from the vigil at the Boulder County Courthouse on Pearl/13th.
I'm sorry; I need to take a break. I am still listening but just can't tweet right now.
Norma Johnson, an artist and poet: "Nobody really knows what to do with this." But people are reaching out; that is what we need.
"Sometimes it takes tragedies for us to look up and see each other," Johnson says.
Kelly McGannon, a rep for King Soopers: I don't know how or when we will reopen, but we will reopen.
Former Boulder mayor Suzanne Jones, on the assault weapons ban passed while she was on council: It was a step we felt we needed to take. It was insufficient. But it was important and necessary.
Ana Casas Ibarra (in Spanish first, then English): "My community, we are no strangers to fear or loss of security." This is "another wave of that."
Stephanie Rudy going over all the assistance given to victims, families, workers at King Soopers, "anybody who was at the scene." Phones (some still in the store) funeral expenses, travel expenses, mental health services, etc.
"We need to hear their story," Rudy says. "We need to provide them with any services they need."
Councilman Mark Wallach: "We know what has to be done. We simply have to have the collective will to do it."
Councilwoman Rachel Friend calling on state leaders to enact a ban on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, etc. and to expand the list of crimes that bar someone from gun ownership to include violent misdemeanors.
This would have prevented the person who murdered 10 of our community members from purchasing a weapon, Friend says.
More on the purchase of that weapon: denverpost.com/2021/03/23/bou…
More on the purchase of that weapon: denverpost.com/2021/03/23/bou…
Swetlik, the youngest person on council, sharing "what it's like to grow up in a society plagued by gun violence. ... Every single experience in my life has been pierced by gun violence, in one way or another.
I'm the generation that learned to hide in our classroom."
I'm the generation that learned to hide in our classroom."
"When I hear our elected officials speak after these, I hear the exact same things. The only things that change are the dates, the place and the names of the victims," Swetlik says.
"What is said is meaningful and truthful and important, but it doesn't drive action. That is what we need at this moment."
He is crying.
He is crying.
"The one thing I hear at these conferences that I don't agree with is that we can't allow this to be normal. ... This is normal. ... Right now, there are few things that are more American or more Coloradan than gun violence."
"I guarantee you that this will change. It is inevitable. Anyone who stands in the way is just biding time. This generation is now coming into power, and this generation will not stand for this. .... It's time to either lead, join with us, or get out of the way."
Councilwoman Junie Joseph: "Today, I mourn with you. Tomorrow, I pledge with the rest of my colleagues, to fight for change and gun reform."
Mayor Sam Weaver: "I want to say I'm sorry. And who I'm sorry to is the younger generation. ... We have failed. We have failed in vision, we have failed in willpower, we have failed in execution."
"We must take the weapons of destruction out of the hands of those who are not fit to use them. And that's almost everyone," Weaver.
We are done with the meeting. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Sending you all love. Thanks for the love in return. ♥️
Sending you all love. Thanks for the love in return. ♥️
@threadreaderapp please unroll. Thank you.
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