Why these Columbus and Phenix City residents held a candlelight vigil

Anyone driving on the 13th Street Bridge just after sunset Thursday night may have seen a group of people holding candles on the northern crosswalk.

The group of 17 adults and a child gathered for a candlelight vigil organized by Indivisible Columbus and Indivisible Phenix City in partnership with the Under the Muscadine Catholic Worker community to remember victims of gun violence.

The group started from the parking lot of the Dollar Tree on 13th Street in Phenix City with LED candles in hand and walked to the midpoint of the bridge.

“Participants will hold candles as a symbol of light in the face of darkness and speak aloud the names of loved ones and community members lost to violence in our schools, churches, shopping centers, and neighborhoods,” a news release from Indivisible Phenix City says.

On the bridge, the group began to read aloud the names of the victims of some school shootings, spanning from the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 to the most recent school shooting in Minneapolis at Annunciation Catholic School last Wednesday.

Some names were of the students as young as 7 years old as well as the various faculty and staff also killed in some of these attacks.

One of the organizers of the event, Karl Welsher, told the Ledger-Enquirer, “Prayers and thoughts is not enough. We need to do some action to try to stop this sort of thing.”

He said reading these names reminds people that the victims aren’t forgotten.

“In mentioning each of those names, we also say, ‘In your name, we’re going to work to stop this violence, so we never have to say another child’s name,’” Welsher said.

In response to the Minneapolis school shooting, Welsher said, “It’s kind of the question, ‘Is nothing sacred any longer?’”

Welsher said every time he hears about a school shooting, it makes him question the work he does in this world. Welsher said he is a Catholic Worker, following the late journalist Dorothy Day.

“The basic idea that we have is that our work and our faith is to make a better world, and when things like this happen, you sit there and say, ‘Have I not any success or anything?’” Welsher said. “But then you come out and keep doing it.”

Welsher said he thinks the outcome of the event is that everyone who showed up is recharged to go back out.

Kelby Hutchison

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

Kelby Hutchison is the breaking news reporter for the Ledger-Enquirer. Originally from Dothan, Alabama, Kelby grew up frequently visiting Columbus to eat at Country’s BBQ in the old Greyhound bus station and at Clearview BBQ on River Road. He graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in criminal justice and a M.A. in journalism. During his studies, Kelby specialized in community journalism.