11-year-old girl told a terrifying story of hiding in her Uvalde classroom. We must act | Opinion

I don‘t know of a parent, or anyone else, who watched the testimony of Miah Cerrillo and didn’t feel the need to do something about American gun violence.

Miah, an 11-year-old fourth-grader at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, was among several people who testified Wednesday at a U.S. House hearing on gun violence and America’s epidemic of mass shootings. (As of Thursday, June 9, there have been 254 U.S. mass shootings since Jan. 1, 2022, a period of 159 days, according to the Gun Violence Archive.)

On May 24, an 18-year-old man armed with an AR-style rifle that he had bought immediately after his 18th birthday killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers in the same fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary, authorities said.

I watched at how Miah, who survived the shooting by smearing herself with blood from her dead classmate, has seen more in her short lifetime than many of us have seen in our 80s. This shouldn’t be.

Being 11 is supposed to be a time of giddy joy, the pre-teen years. It should not be a time where a teacher would have to tell Miah and her classmates to “Go hide,” because a crazed gunman had invaded their school, shooting as he walked in. She should have been able to finish watching the movie with her friends.

Instead, her teacher got an email letting her know of the shooter and quickly locked the door, making eye contact with the gunman in that moment. I can only imagine how frantic the teacher must have been, looking around the room for somewhere for her students to hide. Their backpacks and desks were no shelter from the hail of bullets from the weapon of destruction that targeted them.

Miah’s friend, who was hiding next to her, was killed instantly. “He shot my friend that was next to me,” Miah said. “And I thought he was going to come back to the room.” So, she smeared blood from her friend over her own body so she would appear dead.

Then, she was brave enough to call 911 from her teacher’s phone. “I told the [dispatcher] that we need help and to send the police to my classroom,” she said.

Watching that sweet-faced young girl testify, I can’t imagine if I, a full-grown woman, would have had the nerve to do what Miah did.

When Miah was nearly done testifying, she was asked what she wanted to come from the mass shooting. She told members of Congress: “To have security… I don’t want it to happen again.” She shook her head when she was asked if she felt safe at school.

When her father, Miguel Cerrillo, testified, he said Miah had changed since the shooting. Sobbing, he said, “I came because I could’ve lost my baby girl. ... And she is not the same little girl that I used to play with and run with and do everything, because she was Daddy’s little girl…”

We can’t bring back all the dead who have died from these horrific massacres. But we can do something to help keep it from happening again. For Miah’s sake and for the sake of all the other people who were killed in America in mass shootings, I pray that we do.

Ukraine arts festival

“A Tribute to Ukraine!” is a collective effort to raise humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugee women and children of war. The event will be June 29 at the Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 SW 40th St.

The event is conceived and directed by Philip M. Church, in collaboration with What iF Works, Florida International University Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab and the ROXY Theater Group. There will be drama, poetry, music, dance, and video in a tribute to the courage of the people of Ukraine.

The program will feature poets Lyudmyla Khersonska, Olga Livshin, Julia Dasbach, Miriam Klein Kassenoff and a rendition of “Cloud Anthem” by Poet Laureate Richard Blanco.

Paintings by Romero Brito, Maria Sulymenko and Jacek Kolasinski will be auctioned in an online auction.

All proceeds will benefit the Ukraine TrustChain, whose work funds evacuations and humanitarian aid in Ukraine. The organization has evacuated over 32,000 while feeding thousands daily.

For information or to donate, contact: whatifworks.com.

Summer concert

The Miami Oratorio Society, conducted by Andrew Anderson, will present its annual Summer Variety Concert at 5 p.m. June 26 at Holy Family Episcopal Church, 18501 NW Seventh Ave. in Miami Gardens.

Tickets are $25 in advance for adults ($30 at the door) and $10 for children and may be purchased online at miamioratorio.org

New Links president

Congratulations to Kamila Pritchett, who recently was elected president of the Greater Miami Chapter of The Links.

Pritchett, who was elected to serve through 2024, is a third-generation member of The Links, a not-for-profit corporation geared to “enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.”

She joined The Greater Miami chapter in 2012, and has served as the chapter’s journalist and program chair, and is a graduate of the organization’s Scott Hawkins Leadership Institute.

“It is truly my honor to carry on the legacy of the women of my family, who taught me the importance of friendship and service,” Pritchett said. “… The Links, Inc. has enriched my life — from the friendships with dynamic women from throughout the country and beyond, to the opportunity to work closely with the programs that impact our community, and the leadership training I have received through the Scott Hawkins Leadership Institute. I am eager to serve and give back to an organization that has done so much for me.”

Pritchett is the operations and programming manager of the Black Archives History and Research Foundation of South Florida. Prior to joining the Black Archives, she worked as a community liaison for the Healthy Start Coalition of Miami-Dade. She has a bachelor’s degree in English with a certificate in African New World Studies from Florida International University. She also is a third-generation Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority member.

The Links organization is comprised of over 16,000 professional women of color in 306 chapters across the United States, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and the United Kingdom.

The Miami chapter was organized on Nov. 5, 1955. Recent programming and services include Services to Youth — NSBE Jr. Chapter (STEM); The Arts — Linked in Action Book and Author Luncheon event for annual scholarships; and International Trends and Services — a Haitian Love Affair.

Jewish Federation election

Congratulations to the newly elected chair and vice chair of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation.

Ariel Bentata was elected as chair of the board. He succeeds Isaac (Ike) Fisher, who served for the past two years. Lily Serviansky was elected vice chair and general campaign chair.

This story was originally published June 10, 2022 at 2:41 PM.