IN MARTINEZ, GUEST:
On this holiday, Dia de los Muertos, an era where families remember loved ones who have passed, people in South Texas built public ofrendas, colorful altars to pay tribute to those who died during the school shooting. by Uvalde this year. Jack Morgan of Texas Public Radio visited the display.
JACK MORGAN, BYLINE: At the Muertos Fest in San Antonio, 80 altars were set up throughout the tree-lined downtown. They all had orange marigold flowers, painted skulls, and most included a type of food that the deceased loved to eat. But one of the displays was more poignant.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: These flowers here, right?
MORGAN: Twenty makeshift benches in the classroom in honor of those who died in the primary school shooting last May in Uvalde.
JENNIFER ARCE: I don’t want to go through those wounds. It was something I wanted to be very respectful for this project.
MORGAN: Jennifer Arce teaches art at Lanier High School. She and her students came up with the idea of honoring Uvalde’s victims. The altar consists of 20 large parts, one for each Uvalde student and one for the dead teachers.
ARCE: Each student has their own individual desk. And then we have a professorship. This is for the two teachers.
MORGAN: Senior Lexie Mieto’s desk pays tribute to fourth grade Jacklyn Cazares. Jacklyn’s photo shows her in a formal white dress.
LEXIE MIETO: She wanted to be a vet. And I know I really focused on that by putting, like, a paw print and then including the four dogs he had.
KYE BLACKBURN: To really look at those pictures and think that someone went to elementary school and did those things to those innocent kids – it really hurts.
MORGAN: Kye Blackburn worked with Mieto. She says remembering them this way is important.
BLACKBURN: We actually searched for information on every single student to make sure everything was okay, what they liked. We made sure we got every detail of the students. So whenever their parents can look at it, they can feel like their baby is with them.
MORGAN: Teacher Arce says he is very aware that school shootings happen more often.
ARCE: And it’s something that always weighs on my mind because it could happen one day in my school. And I’d do the same thing those teachers did. I would protect my students.
MORGAN: At Muertos Fest, Santiago Jimenez Jr. sings on stage as people move through the displays.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED REGISTRATION)
SANTIAGO JIMENEZ JR: (Singing in Spanish).
MORGAN: Many stop at Lanier’s altar to take pictures. Some wipe their tears, remembering what happened to Uvalde when a gunman entered the school and for more than an hour the police watched and did little. Leslie Kamara was taking it all with her son and responded in a way that perhaps only a mother could have meant.
LESLIE KAMARA: Whenever I hear news like this, where are my kids? They are fine? How would I move heaven and earth to reach them? And all of this was brought to life in that massacre: these parents who could not reach their children and the police who made no effort to reach these children. And lawmakers fail over and over and over to protect us and our children.
MORGAN: A woman in a salmon-colored dress with a floral headdress moved slowly across the desks, wiping away her tears. Cynthia Cantu drove 4 hours from Brownsville to attend the Muertos Fest.
CYNTHIA CANTU: I am a teacher, a retired teacher. And this only touches my heart. It’s difficult.
MORGAN: She said seeing all the photos of the children made her think about hers and their luck.
CANTU: As a mother of two children who got to see their life in college and, as a professional, my daughter in her career, it’s very touching. God bless the children and their parents.
MORGAN: Lanier’s art teacher Jennifer Arce said the Uvalde parents of the killed children would be invited to take their child’s desk home if they wish. For NPR News, I’m Jack Morgan in San Antonio.
(SOUNDBITE OF CALEXICO “RITUAL ROAD MAP”) Transcription provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
