“And how are the children?” This traditional greeting by the African Maasai tribe is a simple but profound question that calls us to examine our individual and collective health and well-being through the lens of our children. “Kasserian Ingera,” as it is stated by the Maasai, calls us to assess how we are doing by first considering how the most vulnerable among us are doing.
If we were to measure ourselves against that question based on what happened yesterday in Minneapolis, we would have to answer that our children are not well. If we answered the question based on what has happened to schoolchildren across countless communities in our country over decades, we would have to answer that we must do better.
At some point, we must move from being heartbroken to finding a different answer to the question.
As members of the Minneapolis community, all at the McKnight Foundation are grieving for our neighbors who experienced the most tragic and painful losses imaginable with yesterday’s heinous mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School. Yesterday’s tragedy took two beautiful angels from us, injured 17 other children and elders, and traumatized our community. We mourn for the loss of innocence that occurred as schoolchildren celebrated mass — a most holy sacrament meant to anoint and open the promise and hope of a new school year. A school mass should be among the safest places for our children to be.
To the families of the innocent children, we express our deepest condolences and provide assurance that McKnight and the broader Twin Cities community are wrapping our arms around you. We continue to pray for a full and swift recovery of all those impacted and know we will need to continue to support the victims, families, and Annunciation community for a long time to come. For our Catholic neighbors and community members, we share your pain for this desecration of your faith, sacred space, and sacrament. Across all faith traditions and communities, we stand with you.
Yesterday’s mass shooting at Annunciation shocked our city in the wake of previous shooting at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. These incidents and prior gun violence in our community have shaken the region to its core.
We know, however, that for all the wrong reasons we are not alone.
“And how are the children?”
Our nation’s gun violence epidemic has hit home for us in the most painful way. Minneapolis joins an unending list of communities across every part of this country that have been directly impacted by gun violence. In America, gun violence, particularly in schools, is a terrible, unifying reality. All parents should send their kids to school expecting they will come home, yet in our society they are fearful. All students must now practice drills and learn how to respond if a shooting occurs.
This happens every day in every family and community in our nation, and it is unacceptable.
If we can’t commit to keeping our babies safe in places of learning and worship, what does that say about our society? What message are we sending to our children about what we continue to allow to be tolerated and done to them? What does it say about us as a nation if we let another news cycle pass without meaningful action?
This is not a time for sowing division or hate, but instead, we must realize the sad connection we share in the reality that is gun violence in America. It is time for us to say enough is enough.
We are grateful for how our community has responded. To the parents, neighbors, educators, first responders, medical professionals, grief counselors, spiritual leaders, we express our deepest gratitude to you. We know we must also work tirelessly to ensure you are no longer called to respond to tragedies like these.
Earlier this year, Annunciation Principal Matthew DeBoer shared with his parishioners the scriptural theme of the year, Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope.”
Our interpretation is that the scripture references our collective good – not the individual good, because we lost two innocent lives. Yet from this pain and darkness, goodness and light can come forward. We can still have hope–the kind that is clear-eyed, intentional, disciplined, persistent, and demanding. A hope that knows we the people have the resources, will, and power to bend our current reality into a stronger, safer future. A hope that rallies the collective to demand action and hold our leaders accountable for addressing this epidemic once and for all. A hope that will not rest until our children can experience the childhood they deserve, free from fear, violence, or pain.
“And how are the children?”
At McKnight, we are committed to doing our part to work toward that hopeful future and to be able to answer the question, “the children are well.”
