Nationwide — Ja’Shawn Poirier, a 16-year-old Black student, was shot and killed in a school shooting in Arlington, Texas. However, this particular incident didn’t receive any national media attention.
Ja’Shawn was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead nearly 2 hours later. Another female student suffered a graze wound.
“My son didn’t deserve this at all,” Jacob told WFAA. “He didn’t bother nobody.”
The incident occurred a week before the much-publicized attack on the Covenant School in Nashville. However, many have noticed that unlike the latter, Ja’Shawn’s death didn’t make the national news and it didn’t have a candlelight vigil attended by the first lady of the United States. It also didn’t trigger the Members of Congress to provide solutions to make sure no other family experiences this.
In 2023 alone, data shows that 8 students have been fatally shot in K-12 schools, and 5 of those are Black boys in high school. All the victims attended “under-resourced schools in low-income neighborhoods, according to Buzzfeed.
“Far too often we’re not outraged enough as a nation about the fact that school shootings disproportionately impact Black and brown kids,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, senior vice president of movement building at Everytown for Gun Safety. “These are schools that are more likely to be chronically underfunded, where children are less likely to receive the support and resources they need to not only succeed in the classroom but to also cope with the trauma of gun violence that’s impacting their communities.”
Moreover, Ja’Shawn’s grieving family remembers him as a quiet but friendly boy. A GoFundMe was set up to help his mother while she is coping with the death of her son. It has so far raised over $29,000.