Nov. 30, 2021: The day every student’s nightmare became my reality. What I first mistook as balloons popping turned out to be gunshots — one after the other. Cowered behind wooden desks, my classmates and I waited in terror, not knowing where the shooter was or whether we’d make it home alive. We talked and texted and called our parents. We struggled to come up with a plan to reach safety. As gunshots continued to ring out, I jumped through the classroom window and ran for my life. Each and every person in that classroom, in that school, had a heart pounding out of complete and utter terror.
That day, a shooter entered Oxford High School in Michigan and left four of my classmates dead.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
In the nearly three years since then, I’ve told my story countless times. I first shared it on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol to demand lawmakers pass safe storage requirements that would have prevented my four classmates from being killed. I shared it after the tragedy of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, to urge the governor to raise the age from 18 to 21 to purchase assault rifles. I am now sharing it two months after the shooting at Apalachee High School to urge Georgians to take that pain, grief and outrage and bring it to the ballot box and vote for gun safety candidates.
As a survivor, hear me when I say that you can’t expect yourself to recover from something so traumatic overnight. Gun violence takes an appreciable toll on all those impacted. For me, it has been a difficult road of mental health struggles. It took me several months to sleep through a whole night peacefully. I still search for exit signs and jump at loud noises, scared that it might be another gunshot. I relive that day, Nov. 30, over and over in my head like that scene in a horror movie you just can’t shake. For me, that horror movie was real life.
There are still bad days, but I have come a long way since the shooting, and that’s in large part thanks to therapy. I’ve learned that, though it might be easier in the short term to push down my feelings, that only perpetuates the grief and trauma. Instead, I confront it. I dive into all those complicated, scary feelings in a safe environment with my therapist. Whether it looks like going to therapy, journaling or talking to someone you trust, prioritizing your mental health is an absolute necessity.
But whenever I see another school go through what I did, when more children are inducted into our community of survivors, it hurts again. It hurts because we shouldn’t have to live in terror when we go to school, but too many of our leaders tell us instead of healing, instead of stopping the next mass shooting, they tell us to “get over it.” So, like so many survivors, part of my healing journey is to turn grief into action.
In the nearly three years since the shooting at my high school, I’ve met with dozens of lawmakers across the country as an activist with March For Our Lives. And though there is a long, long way to go, I’m here to share a heartening truth: We’ve made real progress. Following twin shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, we championed the first federal gun safety package in about 30 years, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. After the Michigan State University shooting, we then passed the first Michigan package in about 40 years. We are making history, and we’re just getting started.
But all of this progress is on the line next week. Without gun safety champions in office, we simply couldn’t pass these laws. Too many candidates campaign on loosening gun laws without a passing thought for who might die in the process. We need leaders who support common sense gun violence prevention legislation and clear the way to safety — not stand in the way of progress. That’s why this year, March For Our Lives announced our first-ever endorsements, starting with Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Throughout her time in Washington, D.C., as a senator and then as vice president, Harris has proved herself as a tried-and-true leader for gun safety. That’s what our country needs, what Georgia needs, and what survivors like me need. Because the fact is that gun violence is not a partisan matter, it’s a matter of life or death. But only one candidate sees it as a problem to solve, not a political issue to exploit. This election cycle is critical to the future of our country and to our lives.
We can live in a world where no one has to experience what I went through as a high school senior. We can end gun violence. There doesn’t have to be another Apalachee High School or an Oxford High School. Research candidates up and down the ballot. Make your voting plan. Have conversations about gun safety with your family and friends. If you’re able, donate to a gun violence prevention organization or campaign fund. Because when lives are on the line, we can’t afford to lose.
Zoe Touray, 20, is a survivor of the Oxford High School shooting and gun violence prevention activist with March For Our Lives. She studies political science at North Carolina A&T.
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