#IfIDieInASchoolShooting is trending, and these are the most powerful — and tragic — tweets
Friday, May 18th marked yet another unnecessary tragedy in American history when a shooter walked into Santa Fe High School in Texas and opened fire, killing 10 people and injuring 13 more. It’s the most recent in a string of deadly school shootings that seem to show no signs of stopping. Many have started to feel like the possibility of a school shooting is a reality they must now learn to live with — which is why one student started the hashtag #IfIDieInASchoolShooting. It’s currently trending, and has inspired powerful and tragic tweets from students all over the country.
The hashtag was initiated by Andrew Schneidawind, an 18-year-old college freshman at University of Mary Washington. He spoke to Teen Vogue about his decision to start it, saying, “The reality of it is, I have this fear every day. I’m not as paranoid as some people, but still, while I’m listening to my professors lecture, I plan escape routes in my head.” When he heard about the Parkland, Florida shooting, he decided to take action.
Andrew’s plans to print out as many #IfIDieInASchoolShooting tweets as he can and mail them to Paul Ryan and other lawmakers who accept money from the NRA or who oppose change to gun legislation. He said, “These are real people telling the world what they’ll leave behind. It might make them feel bad and it will make them uncomfortable. But that’s the point. We don’t care about their comfort anymore, we care about ours. We want to be able to go to school not fearing bullets.”
Below are just a few of the most powerful responses so far:
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting or any shooting, I want to be buried right next to my brother.
— Zion Kelly (@zionkelly18) May 20, 2018
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#IfIdieInASchoolShooting
My projects wont be finished.
My boyfriend will be all alone.
My parents will have lost another kid.
Friends will be abandoned.Politicize my death. Make it mean something. Cover my grave with daisies and stuffed animals. I live to make a difference
— angel/duncan 💜😈 (@AngelDearests) May 20, 2018
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#IfIDieInASchoolShooting My 8 younger siblings will have to grow up without their oldest sister, i’ll never graduate high school or college, i’ll never get to work in dc like i’ve wanted to since i was young, i’ll never get to create change
— jaxon !! (@jaxonomara) May 20, 2018
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#IfIDieInASchoolShooting I’d get to see Carmen again
— X González (@callmeX) May 20, 2018
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting I pray to God it’s protecting someone else. I refuse to die cowering and afraid. So if I die in a school shooting, make sure you speak my name.
— Quill (@RunningFromNow) May 20, 2018
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting dump my body in front of the White House.
— John Barnitt (@John_Barnitt) May 20, 2018
We, teenagers, are tweeting using #IfIDieInASchoolShooting. The saddest part about it? We have all already had these thoughts — have all already wondered if it will be our school next, what we will do if it happens to us, and how our community will (or will not) respond.
— Ziad Ahmed (@ziadahmed) May 20, 2018
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting I could finally bring Feis the Starbucks he never took me up on.
— Ryan Deitsch (@Ryan_Deitsch) May 20, 2018
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting remember my name. Not the murderer’s. #NoNotoriety
— Alex Wind (@al3xw1nd) May 21, 2018
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting the news will talk about me for a while and then forget about me. I will never get to graduate college, become CEO of a company, or start a loving family. If I die, I want my body to be “thrown on the steps of the capitol building”.
— leah (@leahogdon) May 20, 2018
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#IfIDieInASchoolShooting know that I wasn’t surprised. Know that you have fucked up this country so much that I actually walked to school every day half expecting my death via a shooting.
Take my stolen voice and fix it. Don’t make my story happen to someone else. #Enough— Amethyst Jewell (@Faaabbbuloousss) May 20, 2018
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#IfIdieInASchoolShooting don’t say “it’s too soon to talk about it” because it would be too late to save me. #fixit
— Jose Iglesias (@Jose_Iglesiass) May 20, 2018
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https://twitter.com/udfredirect/status/998700104625377280
The fact that #IfIDieInASchoolShooting is trending on twitter is a soul crushing declaration that the USA has failed our children. The only way to stop bad guys with guns is 75 million millenials who will vote. And I can’t wait for this generation to turn the world upside down.
— Sarah Richardson (@AZEdMama) May 21, 2018
The responses to the trending hashtag are difficult to read, but they need to be heard. Let’s hope that this inspires the change we so desperately need from lawmakers.
