Mankato community gathers in remembrance for lives lost in Uvalde

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - A gathering in solace, standing together for the lives lost in the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas.

The crowd in Mankato was taking a stand against the gun violence that is plaguing the country.

“It changed not just the 21 people or the 19 kids, it changed every kid in that school and that community,” organizer Daniel Marshall said. “It changed the safety that kids here feel going to school the next day.”

Stand Up! Mankato organized the event. Young people with signs, parents with children holding candles to remember the lives lost, and names written in chalk on the sidewalk.

“Now that I have two kids that are under my care and one of them is going to school, it is so hard to think that I could send him to school and not know what’s going on. I can’t imagine what those parents are feeling,” said Kyrstin Ogle, participant and mother of two.

Organizers talk about the violence seen at Robb Elementary School, how voices can be heard in the upcoming special election and the fact that this gathering is happening on the two-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd.

“Small moments like this do matter. All that conversation started in Minneapolis two years ago and reached every part of the world. I am not here to start a global conversation, I am trying to be here with my community,” Marshall said.

The message was a message of solidarity and action for the future, a future with less violence

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