Dearborn students, officials speak at candlelight vigil for Oxford High School

 

By SUE SUCHYTA
Times-Herald Newspapers

DEARBORN – Despite the cold, students, local officials and residents gathered Dec. 9 outside the Police Department to reflect on the Oxford High School tragedy and speak about hoped-for change.

Dearborn High School sophomore Zain Mohamad said he attended the vigil to commemorate those who died in the Oxford High School shooting and to raise awareness for the need to better protect students.

He said being a student is stressful, and there is a lot of fear among his classmates.

“You don’t know what will happen to your school,” he said.

Dearborn High senior Karim Kadouh said he was at the vigil to recognize their fellow students in Oxford.

“We thought it was important to host this vigil to show them that we stand with them and we are here for them,” he said. “We know that our district and staff are doing the best that they can to protect us, and we are just hoping that’s enough and we remain safe.”

Fordson High School junior Nour Hassan said her fellow students are stressed and fearful, and she said the district is working on ways to address students’ needs.

“Right now, my heart is with the Oxford family, and the victims, and their friends and families,” she said. “I do hope that things will change soon.”

Edsel Ford High School senior Ahmed Kaid said students are feeling unsettled and uncertain.

“For the past week, every single day, we’ve had at least a picture circulating on social media,” he said. “Obviously, students are taking it seriously, and it is just very unfortunate that some people are using this as an opportunity to get a day off school.”

Kaid said that while he is sympathetic toward the situation in Oxford, he is grateful that nothing has happened in Dearborn schools.

“It’s just really nice to see that people are turning up, especially in this really cold weather, to come and show their support,” he said.

City Council President Susan Dabaja said she hopes the vigil brings about more awareness.

“There has unfortunately been a lot of false alarms and pranks that are going on, and people really need to know how serious that is,” she said. “It is not only messing up your day at school, but it is also creating unnecessary anxiety for students, for parents, for educators and for our first responders. It’s something that has been very troubling the last 10 days or so.”

Dabaja said the focus of the event should be on the lives lost and recognizing that something has to be done as a result of it.

“We cannot just sit back and every time this type of tragedy occurs, we hold a vigil, we hold a press conference,” she said. “We are going to look to our state and federal legislatures to do something about it.”

Dabaja said as the mother of a high school student, she could not imagine getting a phone call like parents in Oxford received.

“I can’t imagine – it’s unfathomable to feel what they felt, and I hope I never have to go through that,” she said. “As a mother, it makes me even more furious that we are dealing with this.”

Bilal Hammoud of Dearborn Heights said it was heartwarming to see the students show their support for Oxford High School, because it is an issue that reaches beyond the local area.

“This isn’t an issue that just impacts the local community – this is a nationwide issue,” he said. “We know that this is something that is now in the minds of students every time they go to school, every time the parents send off their children, so, it’s a little heart-wrenching to know that now everyone is reacting so aggressively to these threats and violent claims coming out, because we’re scared.”

He said there hasn’t been enough done to address the underlying mental health issues that we are seeing take hold of these students.

Police Chief Ronald Haddad said communication is the most important element needed to keep schools safe.

“In every active shooter case study that I have looked at since Columbine, somebody knew who the shooters were, and somebody knew that they were teetering on violence, that they had anger issues, and they couldn’t function free of mental fitness issues,” he said. “We as a nation and as a community have to be willing to step up and take preventative action when somebody is in that stage.”

Dearborn Public Schools Supt. Glenn Maleyko said the gathering was about standing together as a community to show support for the Oxford community.

“It’s not just those who suffered the physical wounds who need our support, but all those in Oxford who have suffered great emotional wounds,” he said. “Forty-five miles physically separates our two cities. We gather here tonight to spiritually bridge that distance.”

Maleyko said the vigil is also a way to let the healing begin.

Edsel Ford junior Miryam El-Saghir said she feels fearful, unsafe and unprotected at school.

“We know that the school is trying to take the measures to protect us, but we also know that this is not subsiding our fear,” she said. “We are anxious about the next school shooting. Will it be here? Will it be us? Will I be the next victim?”

El-Saghir said students worry about where to hide, or what door will let them escape.

“After witnessing the ongoing threats and school shutdowns over the past week, how can we not call for action?” she said. “How can we not do what makes it safe? How can we not raise the debate over guns to the level that it should be?”

Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud said she was inspired by the students’ bravery and the way they are voicing their outrage and sadness.

“This vigil is not a show of solidarity for Oxford only,” she said. “It’s a show of strength and it’s a preview of the change that is coming.”

Hammoud said the students, society’s future leaders, are sending a message that they refuse to accept these tragedies as normal.

“We as public officials need to be brave enough to follow your lead and be the agents of change you want us to be,” she said. “No one in our society should have to live with that fear. No one in our society should have to learn in that fear, and the right to use a weapon is not more sacred than your right to learn in peace.”

Haddad encouraged students to speak up if they feel something might be wrong, and he said at least five times during his career, people have contacted police officials because someone was teetering on the edge of violence.

“I can’t tell you what may have happened, but I can tell you what didn’t happen,” he said. “No one got hurt, and we got those young people some help. So, tonight, don’t walk in fear, don’t be afraid, walk united.”

Haddad said someday, the people will elect legislators with the courage, fortitude and the moral purpose who will change what needs to be changed.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) said something needs to be done.

“We lost four young people last week, and we can’t let them die in vain, and yet this isn’t the first time I have been to a vigil like this,” she said. “Last Friday, the superintendent brought some students together, and they talked to me about being scared to go to school.”

Dingell said there have been “too many” lockdowns and schools closing in the past week.

“It has to stop, and you, the young people, have to be the voice,” she said. “I am going to keep fighting, but it is going to take young people who want to make a difference.”

Dingell urged people to be kind to each other.

“What you are seeing is a reflection of what’s happening in our communities,” she said. “We need to be there for each other. We need to embrace each other, we need to let ourselves feel, we need to express how we feel, but more than anything, it’s time we make the country hear young people roar.”