BOULDER -- Hundreds gathered for a vigil at Boulder's Fairview High School on Thursday evening, March 25, as the community continues its search for answers and action in the wake of Monday's mass killing of 10 people at a nearby supermarket.
"There are 10 empty spaces in our hearts," a speaker said.
The event was organized by Moms Demand Action, a national group advocating for gun-safety measures. It was one of several community gatherings held since Monday's deadly attack at a King Soopers store, including a vigil on Boulder's Pearl Street Wednesday night.
Bundled up against the evening chill, the crowd at Fairview High heard poetry from a University of Colorado Boulder professor, a roll call of their slain neighbors from their congressman, speeches from community members, and support for steps to control gun violence.
Khadijah Queen -- a CU Boulder English professor, author, playwright and poet -- recited a list of places where mass killings have happened in recent years, "the sites of trauma we drive past: nightclubs, day spas, movie theaters, elementary schools, high schools, colleges, concert halls, synagogues, churches, mosques ..."
"I just wrote (the poem) the day after the shooting," Queen said in an interview, "just to mark how many places this kind of thing has happened."
She talked about "how much imperative there is that we do something to change the trajectory of gun laws in this country so that we can be safe walking around in our neighborhoods."
