Vigil in Boca honors victims of violence

Religious leaders in Boca Raton on Sunday joined in on national calls to end violence in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.

An interfaith group of about 80 people held a vigil to honor those killed at Stoneman Douglas, the Pulse nightclub, in genocides and in global wars.

“It’s important to invoke the names of the people who were killed as a way to give us sort of the energy and the drive to move forward,” said the Rev. Benjamin Thomas, assistant rector at St. Gregory Episcopal Church.

He was one of several local religious leaders who co-organized the first interfaith Together We Remember memorial in Florida, which took place at Sanborn Square Park in downtown Boca Raton.

The goal of the vigil was to bring attention to hatred-fueled mass killings around the world. Organizers pinned up posters throughout the park listing the names of people killed at the Pulse in Orlando, the Darfur genocide Sudan and the civil war in Syria.

Thomas said Sunday was also an opportunity to engage the young people in the community in light of the #NeverAgain movement. He recently accompanied some of his younger church members to the March for Our Lives rallies in Washington D.C.

“There’s a lot of compassion fatigue I’ve noticed with the youth,” Thomas said. “It’s like ‘Oh, I just don’t know if this is working.’ I think teaching them about their cumulative effect — of being present, speaking your voice and speaking your truth — is worth it.”

Resident Marcia Sherman, 92, showed up to honor her late husband, who helped liberate the Nazi’s Mauthausen concentration camp during World War II. She said the wave of young people speaking out against gun violence has made her optimistic about the future for younger generations.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Sherman said. “It gives me hope that maybe the NRA won’t be as strong as they are.”

She also said she was frustrated by conspiracy theorists who said the Stoneman Douglas activists were “crisis actors,” likening the claims to those of Holocaust deniers.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch also made an appearance Sunday, helping to read off some of the dozens of names of those killed and denouncing gun violence.

“This has been an excruciatingly difficult period not just for the Stoneman Douglas community and for Parkland and Coral Springs, but for South Florida,” Deutch told the crowd.

Near the park’s stage Sunday were posters bearing the pictures of people who have died saving others during tragic events, including Stoneman Douglas teachers Scott Beigel and Chris Hixon, killed in the Feb. 14 shooting.

“It’s at the darkest moments that the brightest beacons of humanity always shine through,” said David Estrin, founder of Together We Remember. “And in the darkest moments in the MSD community, that happened.”

JENNIFER LETT/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Over a dozen posters with photos of people who sacrificed their freedom and lives were placed on the trees in Sanborn Square Park in Boca Raton on Sunday.