By Brandy voirin/ reporter
A bystander is a person who observes a conflict but is not involved, and that’s what GOP candidate Ben Carson is suggesting student victims were when a 26-year-old student opened fire on his classroom Oct. 1 at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.
“I said what I would do … I would just not stand there and let him shoot me … I would ask everyone to attack the gunman,” Carson told ABC News. “That way, we wouldn’t all end up dead.”
However, students didn’t just do nothing. They stood up not only for themselves but also for each other. One student tied a scarf around a victim’s wounds, a witness said. Student Chris Mintz charged the gunman, was shot seven times and still survived.
According to CNN, Stacy Boylan, father of student Anastasia Boylan, said the gunman asked students, “Are you a Christian?” and “If you’re a Christian, stand up,” and they would stand up. And he said, “Good. Because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in a few minutes.” And he shot them.
One after one, students faced the barrel of a gun and stated they were Christians. Not only did students bring textbooks on the fourth day of school, but they also brought their courage.
In the face of death, they didn’t waver but stood up tall for what they believed in, their faith in God. Nine lives were lost in less than 10 minutes. Nine more were injured.
Carson thinks students didn’t stand up enough. But they did. Every student stood up, even the ones who lay lifeless on the classroom floor in a pool of blood next to fellow student Anastasia Boylan, who was shot in the back and pretended to be dead.
“I will never forget that day for the rest of my life,” Boylan said to CNN. “I could hear students breathing while dying on the floor next to me.”
For Carson to say students should have done more is wrong. When is being a Christian martyr the wrong choice? The message Carson is sending to others is that fighting by charging the gunman is the only answer. These students were interrogated by a gunman and chose to use words, “I am a Christian.”
While this may not be the way Carson thinks the classroom shootout should have ended, this is the way the 19 students decided to fight.
With only seconds to speak, they chose to stand up for their faith. This choice took courage, and those words were more than enough.
