Editor’s note: This commentary is by Trang Do, of South Burlington, who is a senior at South Burlington High School and a first generation immigrant. She and her classmate Kiran Waqar organized the South Burlington group that lobbied in Montpelier on the proposed gun law, S.221, last week.
[A]s soon as I was old enough to understand self, my ears had been incessantly filled with the preaching of education. At 7 years old, I knew that I was going somewhere special. Wonder-filled pairs of brown eyes looked upon my figure poised in front of the first grade classroom where I naively announced I would not be back next year. I would be going to “Mỹ,” where I was to study hard and get a good education. “Mỹ” was America.
Among the many possibilities instilled in my mind and the advancements I dreamed of as a child, I would have never imagined the state of America to come to this. I feel pangs of fear after each headline flashes and imprints in my brain, speaking of yet another mass homicide. I can only imagine what my 9-year-old sister is feeling. She knows fear as being lost in a grocery store or forgetting her stuffed animal at school. I hope that for her, that is as broad as fear can be defined.
I’ve noticed that there is something peculiar that happens after a mass shooting. Support is garnered, protection is placed, but on the shoulders of those who should be held accountable, and not the victims or others at risk. This sends a message — whether intentional or not — to the youth of the country, that the losses of their lives will never be insurmountable to prompt any action in managing this domestic threat.
Those who yearn to have their minds cultivated by the knowledge in the world should not be barred because they cannot protect themselves in a learning environment. Our parents did not make life-long sacrifices to their livelihoods and security for this. I do not speak as a daughter of an immigrant, and we do not merely speak as young adults, but as scholars and activists. We speak as Americans, as your future.
No matter the location, sustaining an education is hard enough. Every child should be able to learn in their version of “Mỹ,” they should have secure aspirations and hope. The difficulties in pursuing an education should be problems like meeting deadlines and passing difficult classes, not personal safety. The riches of countries around the world lie in their youth, not the fiscal degree or the bounty of weaponry it commands. There is a choice to be made here, and we hope you choose common sense. We hope you choose the future.
