NEW ORLEANS — Students and staff paid tribute to a Xavier University alum killed by a Fort Worth police officer inside of her own home.
A moving candlelight vigil was held Wednesday night just a couple weeks after 28-year-old former grad student Atatiana Jefferson was shot and killed in Texas by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean.
Dean now faces murder charges
“I never imagined I’d be doing this right now,” Khylir Patton, who knew Atatiana, said. “It was not goodbye when we hugged each other. It was see you at the top sister.”
The vigil was just part of the remembrance. A community forum was also held to discuss race, crime and punishment in America, because with conversation comes changes.
“It’s really about creating a constructive dialogue around the tragic loss of Atatiana Jefferson,” Mylest Bartholomew, who organized the vigil, said. “She was a Xavier student and the Xavier community really wanted to rally around her cause.”
These types of shootings have become seemingly a regular occurrence in our country.
Xavier’s president knows that, but he is still optimistic that the future will be brighter than our past.
“Change has come,” Dr. Reynold Verret said. “Since I was a boy, we have changed. We can change. We are able to change. We are able to think hard about how we behave how we practice and even how we interact as people.”
For now, the uncertain road seems long and difficult, but students here find peace in knowing they don’t have to walk it alone
“I want you all to know that we have to be there for one another and we have to love each,” Patton said. “Because we don’t know if tomorrow if promised.”