Stevie Nicks is reflecting on the tragic mass shooting that occurred at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022.
On Wednesday (May 24), Nicks took to Twitter to share a poignant letter on the one-year anniversary of the shooting that claimed the lives of 21 people, 19 of whom were students and two teachers. Titled “The Lost Futures of Uvalde,” Nicks looks back on her own childhood in Texas and how the young lives who were lost in the shooting didn’t get the chance to grow up. All of the student victims were between the ages of nine and 11.
Videos by American Songwriter
The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman recalls how her family moved to El Paso, Texas, when she was in the third grade. She soon started taking ballet classes, professing to her mother that she one day wanted to be a “prima ballerina.” A year later, she recalls listening to records with her grandfather and falling in love with music and singing.
When she was 15, her family moved to California and she was gifted a guitar on which she wrote her first song, solidifying her desire to make music for a living. “As we ponder the one year anniversary of Uvalde, and the myriad of shootings that have happened since that fateful day, I can’t help but ask myself, ‘What if I had been shot and killed by a man with a gun while in my ballet class in the third grade?’” Nicks writes. “And I can’t help but think of all those little lost futures.
“And so, in closing, my arms go around each one of those little hearts like a ring of angels that will always be missing,” she continues. “I will never be able to let this go…If anything, I will do all I can to keep this story alive.”
In the aftermath of the shooting, Nicks spoke out in support of increased gun control measures, such as stricter access to assault rifles like the one used in the shooting. “So, I ask you; do you want to go down in the history books as being responsible for these school shootings that will inevitably continue, or do you want to be remembered as the people who finally gathered together in unity and empathy ~ as the people who stopped it,” she said at the time.
(Photo Credit: LiPo Ching)
Most Viewed
-
UNSPECIFIED – SEPTEMBER 01: Photo of Raspberries (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
Huty23631 0001 -
LAS VEGAS – APRIL 06: ***EXCLUSIVE*** Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn of Brooks & Dunn perform "The Cowboy Rides Away' onstage during the 44th annual Academy Of Country Music Awards' Artist of the Decade held at the MGM Grand on April 6, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Kevin Winter/ACM2009/Getty Images for ACM) -
American singer, songwriter and pianist, Ray Charles (1930 – 2004) performing at the Olympia in Paris, France on May 18, 1962. (Photo by REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) -
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – OCTOBER 30: Alan Jackson performs at the Coal Miner's Daughter: A Celebration Of The Life & Music Of Loretta Lynn at the Grand Ole Opry on October 30, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images) -
AUSTIN, TEXAS – Lloyd Maines performs onstage during "Austin City Limits Celebrates 50 Years: A Special Anniversary Taping" of the long-running music series "Austin City Limits" at ACL Live on November 21, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images) -
UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 04: Photo of Emmylou Harris, December 4, 1979, California, North Hollywood, Palomino Club, Emmylou Harris. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) -
English rock and pop group The Hollies perform the song 'Sorry Suzanne' on the set of the BBC Television pop music television show Top Of The Pops at Lime Grove Studios in London on 27th March 1969. Members of the band are, from left, Tony Hicks, Bobby Elliott, Allan Clarke, Terry Sylvester and Bernie Calvert. (Photo by Ivan Keeman/Redferns)