It is with an incredibly heavy heart that I write this letter. It’s the beginning of summer break for my children at Holy Angels in Dayton. Louise, 6, just finished her kindergarten year, having learned to read and do basic addition, to negotiate sometimes rocky relationships with new friends, and to do the monkey bars in 27 seconds flat. She’s lost five teeth and is working on the sixth.
Our little redhead, 4-year-old Jane, finished her first year at Holy Angels Preschool. Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Ogles are kind and caring teachers, rewarding smiles with gummy bears and celebrating colors and numbers with themed lunches. Every morning they check the weather together and dress Paco the Panda with weather-appropriate clothing.
It was harder than usual to drop them off last week, to hand them over to strangers-turned-family and walk away knowing that the parents of 19 children did the same — not knowing that it was their last goodbye.
We’re residents of Dayton — specifically of Dayton’s Oregon District – home to a mass shooting just three years ago this August. Three years ago, on that August evening, I stood in the crowd in my neighborhood, two blocks from my home, holding my one-year-old and my 3-year-old and listened to you and Mayor Whaley promise to DO SOMETHING. I stood there and cried with my neighbors and my friends and believed you. I believed you.
August 4, 2019 was a hot night and we had all of our windows closed with the air conditioning on. I had a nursing baby who had awoken just an hour before the shooting to feed. I fed her and put her back to bed and wearily crawled back into bed with my husband. We awoke to a flurry of text messages and emails from friends and family, a panicked call from my best friend in New York and from my brother in DC.
We had not yet seen the news. We were stunned. Not in our neighborhood, not in Dayton. But yes, just steps from our front door there occurred such violence.
I love Dayton, Ohio. I’m proud of our history and my heritage in this town. My family has lived here for over 170 years. Our family business sold wood to the Wright brothers for their flyers. We helped build this town. Daytonians are made of tough stuff. We support each other and care for our communities.
It’s time, Governor. It’s time to move the needle, to make hard choices and necessary changes. I want to have confidence that when I drop my children off at school in the morning or walk through my neighborhood in the evening that they will be safe. I want you to do something. I want you to negotiate and compromise and make it harder for people under 21 or with documented mental illness to access weapons. I want you to look back at your days as a young father and remember what it was like to hold those tiny hands in your hands and know that you would do anything to protect them.
Please do all you can to protect our children. It’s time. It’s past time. You promised. Do something.
Laura Pippenger earned her bachelor’s degree in religion from Denison and her master degree in social work from Washington University. She is currently pursuing a law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law and plans to practice locally upon graduation.
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