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Road to Change Crowd 2
La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio was packed for the "Road to Change" event of the nationwide "March for Our Lives" student organization seeking better gun safety in America. An estimated 500-600 people attended the July 9, 2018 event which was hosted by Students Demand Action-San Antonio, a student branch of the national Everytown for Gun Safety organization. (Photo Courtesy of John P. Feagins).
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Road to Change
The Rev. John Patrick Feagins and the Rev. Raquel Cajiri Feagins show off their "March for Our Lives" T-shirts autographed by student speakers on the organization's "Road to Change" summer tour. Rev. Feagins is pastor and Rev. Carjiri Feagins is associate pastor of La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio where the event was held. (Photo Courtesy of John Feagins).
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John Feagins with Emma
The Rev. John Feagins welcomes Emma Gonzalez and Chris Grady to La Trinidad United Methodist Church for the "Road to Change" tour. Ms. Gonzalez and Mr. Grady survived the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 of their classmates were killed.
La Trinidad United Methodist Church in San Antonio, Texas, hosted an historic event July 9, when students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., brought their “Road to Change” summer tour to town.
“Road to Change” is the summer focus of the group March for Our Lives, the student-led campaign for gun safety that was organized after 17 of their classmates died in a mass shooting Feb. 14. A little over a month later, after their efforts at gun-safety legislation were thwarted by the Florida Legislature and tepid congressional response, the students organized March for Our Lives, a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C. replicated in dozens of related events across the United States.
Now the students have embarked on a two-month nationwide campaign to register young voters and urge them to vote in local, state and national elections, especially the congressional midterms this coming November. Road to Change's message to young voters is: replace incumbents funded by the National Rifle Association with legislators who will enact better gun safety measures, according to the March for Our Lives website.
The La Trinidad UMC event was one of several in gun-friendly Texas, where the NRA held its national convention in Dallas in May. Among the Road to Change visitors in San Antonio were Parkland students whose activism has made them stars of the movement: David Hogg, Cameron Kasky and Emma Gonzalez. The Parkland students were accompanied by students from Houston and Chicago, along with the mother of a young man killed in a Houston drive-by shooting.
La Trinidad UMC’s pastor, the Rev. John Patrick Feagins, said his congregation hosted the “Road to Change” event because the church has focused on being a gathering place for the San Antonio community.
“Logistically, we're in a good location downtown near the intersection of major highways,” he told Insight in a telephone interview. “We seat about 350 people in the sanctuary and we’re already set up for livestream.
“Aside from logistics, as an inclusive community La Trinidad tries to be a place that pays attention to community issues,” the pastor continued. “We do funerals for gun violence victims; sometimes the victims are part of our congregation. After all, the shooting at Sutherland Springs church was only about 25 miles away from us. The shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston (South Carolina) was at a historic black congregation; we’re a historic Hispanic congregation.”
Manifested civility
Holding the “Road to Change” event at La Trinidad UMC also seemed to keep emotions in check, Rev. Feagins said. “In our sacred space, I think people manifested a civility they might not have shown elsewhere.”
The event wasn’t without tensions, owing to the presence of protesters from a pro-gun group, Open Carry Texas, whose armed members staged a demonstration across the street from the church. Rev. Feagins said that Open Carry had described La Trinidad UMC as a “communist” organization on Facebook prior to the Road to Change event.
“Some of the protesters came into the church with body cameras,” the pastor said. “I don’t know what they thought we were going to do, take away their guns maybe, but I think they found us kinder than they expected. I told them that the only way we were communist was with our free tacos at Sunday breakfast: everyone is welcome to eat as much as they want.”
Rev. Feagins estimated between 500 and 600 people attended the Road to Change event, filling both the 350-seat sanctuary and 150 oveflow chairs chairs in the gym. “We had people walking around as well,” he said.
For Rev. Feagins, a “precious moment” came when the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” to civil rights activist Betty Phillips of Buda, Texas, for her 80th birthday.
“Even though this wasn’t a religious event, you could feel the Spirit moving through the church,” said the pastor.
Church hosted other events
Local organizers with Students Demand Action-San Antonio, a student chapter of Everytown for Gun Safety, said they set up the national campaign stop at La Trinidad UMC because the church had hosted other local town halls for them.
Rachel Walsdorf, 18, just graduated from the John Jay Science and Engineering Academy and will be attending the University of Notre Dame in the fall.
“I am involved because there needs to be change in this country, and it’s time for young people to take the lead,” Ms. Walsdorf told United Methodist Insight in an email. “Gun violence has been an issue in this country for a long time, yet nobody wants to address it. We are demanding that gun violence prevention measures be set in place to ensure that this epidemic won’t continue past our generation.
“I have not been personally affected by gun violence, but I have met many strong individuals during this movement who have shared their stories with us.”
Another organizer, Sophia Mendez, cited the support of La Trinidad’s pastor as key to the success of the San Antonio event.
“The pastor hosted a meeting for Moms Demand Action a week before March for Our Lives in San Antonio,” said Ms. Mendez, 16 and a student at Winston Churchill High School. “He offered his church space the morning before the march, and he has supported us ever since!”
Like Ms. Walsdorf, Ms. Mendez is committed to the idea that young citizens can bring change to America.
“March for Our Lives is a platform for young people to demand actions from politicians to stop the prevalent gun violence, and I thoroughly believe in all the values of this organization,” she said in an email. “I have loved ones, and I think common sense gun laws would be an excellent solution to say ‘never again.’ Fortunately, no one I know personally has been a victim of this horrifying epidemic.”
As a former campus minister, Rev. Feagins said he found all the students connected to the event to be “well studied, articulate, intelligent, and mature,” but still high school students.
“They’ve had to grow up too fast and take on something that adults should have taken care of,” the pastor said. “Still, they give us grown-ups a lot of hope for America’s future, because we’re trying to find a common moral ground.”
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.