Oxford students' powerful plea for accountability goes viral amid calls for action after tragic shooting
OXFORD, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – The pleas from Oxford High School students demanding accountability stemming from the tragic mass shooting two years ago have gone viral.
"it was just a way to get our voices out to just a couple more people, and the numbers started growing," Giselle Gillim, a junior at Oxford High School, said.
The video of Oxford High School senior Jack Woodruff addressing the school board has been viewed more than two million times on TikTok.
"I feel so awful about myself that I got to go home and others didn't. I'm tired of seeing your face sit in power in front of me and the countless other survivors as if you aren't directly involved with the death that occurred on the 30th," Woodruff said in the video.
Woodruff is one of the several students who spoke at the Nov. 28 board meeting, criticizing board members for not doing enough to prevent the mass shooting and calling for some members to resign.
"People who are responsible for this trauma are standing there; we can't bring them these concerns. We can't talk to them about it," Gillim said.
As of Thursday afternoon, the video has received over 200,000 likes and has been shared more than 2.600 times.
"Now we're sitting here reading through these thousands of comments just lifting us up and positivity and these people standing with us, and this is what we needed. This is what we needed to be able to stand up; we needed people to hear us, and they do now," Gillim said.
Trauma experts say this kind of response helps in the healing process.
"People who weren't able to speak up are saying, 'Yes, you're speaking for me,' and they're getting the support of the community and the country in getting their message out," Kal Meyers, a crisis intervention specialist, said.
Gillim says if the board members they're asking to resign won't leave on their own, she's working on gathering signatures to recall them.
"We'll keep showing up at board meetings, we'll keep talking, we'll keep getting our voices heard. And this is not something that I'm willing to just give up. Because it's not just for us, it's the innocence. And it's the future of the children that are coming into this building ahead of us. And I refuse to let them walk into this building with the people responsible for the death of children on their hands still in charge," Gillim said.
CBS News Detroit contacted Oxford Community Schools to comment on the viral video, but as of Thursday evening, the district hasn't responded.
