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Melissa: It's The Takeaway. I'm Melissa Harris-Perry. On this day, four years ago, the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida prompted our nation to discuss gun violence in schools. The reality is, the overwhelming majority of lives lost and forever changed by gun violence is a daily occurrence, barely garnering headlines. In Cook County, Illinois, the area that includes the City of Chicago, more than 1,000 people died as a result of gun violence last year. Not every victim of gun violence is even the intended target of the shooter. For all these deaths, there are many more who are physically wounded or emotionally scarred by the violence, people like my next guest.
Tiana: Tiana Lofton. I'm 20 years old. I'm a sophomore at the University of New Orleans, majoring in philosophy with a concentration in public policy, ethics and law. I'm from Chicago, Illinois.
Melissa: I asked Tiana to tell us about the day she was shot.
Tiana: The year of 2020 is the year that most people probably remember as looting, and COVID, and all of the crazy things that came up, but I remember it as the year that I got shot and almost lost my life. On May 31st of 2020, the day that Chicago decided to look for the murder of George Floyd, my family threw a graduation parade in the honor of me, and my sisters, and my cousins graduated from high school, college, and middle school. As we all celebrated together, everyone came out, friends and family drove passed and screamed our names and celebrated. It was a great time. It felt like one of the best days. I honestly forgot what was going on around me.
Afterwards, I decided to go out with some of my friends. We stopped at the local gas station right by my home, waiting to buy something because the gas station had closed their doors since there was looting going on around the city. As we were just standing outside waiting to buy things, a truck pulled up and they let out shots. I just remember in my head, it happened all so quickly. It was just a lot of commotion. I heard screaming and heard the shooting. I remember when I tried to run, I fell. It was just like, "Oh, I got shot." I remember I just had to get up and move. I started to move and I was able to set myself up on the side. I've seen my friend that I was with and she was in shock, and she started to call 911. She couldn't get an answer. She looked at me and she was like, "T, they're not answering."
When someone did answer, they tell her they're gonna call her back, the line was busy, no one could come. I don't know. I just remember I was thinking, since preschool, you're told to call 911 if you're ever in a situation, if you're ever in danger. This is my first time ever being in a situation like this. I was shocked. I just thought to call my mother. I remember I was like, I gave her my phone and called my mom. She called my mom. I stayed right down the street from the gas station that we were at. When I called my mom and I was telling her, "Mom, I just got shot. Nobody's coming. I need help," she got to me and she got to me just in time. I remember she got me in the truck and we had to get to the hospital.
On the way to the hospital, it was just like the city was just going into chaos. I remember seeing a police officer. He was standing outside his car. My mom stopped her car and she was like, "My baby is shot. Can you help us? We need help." He looked at us. My window was down. I looked at him and I was like, "I'm shot." He was like, "Keep driving, just keep driving." I remember nobody [unintelligible 00:04:01] us. He didn't turn his lights on. We were just like, "Huh?" He was just like, "Keep driving."
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Melissa: Okay, quick pause. Take a second to breathe. Right back with more on gun violence in the US on The Takeaway.
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Melissa: I've been speaking with 20-year-old college student Tiana Lofton about the day she was shot. She continues her story of survival.
Tiana: Once we made it to the Little Company of Mary, I went in there and they instantly got to poking me with IVs and stuff. I was there for two hours. I got a blood transfusion and a COVID test. They finally transferred me to the nearest trauma unit, which is Christ Medical Center. Once I got to Christ, I went into emergency surgery, where they fit a rubber tube, replaced that. A couple hours later, they did a bypass surgery, took away from my leg and put it in my arm. Then from that point, I had to stay home from college. I was actually a very big headache little kid on going to LSU. I wanted to attend that college very badly, but things had changed drastically when I got shot in my arm because it was my dominant hand, and I had to stay home for six months to learn how to use my arm again, and so I had to change my plans around.
I just realized I wanted something different. I wanted something more smaller, more personal, a smaller school, more in the city. I found Uno. It was just like God's calling, God's plan because it was really out of the blue. I just remember after I did seven, six months of occupational therapy, immediately when I was clear, I came off to school. I only took a semester off, so I came that spring of last year and I've been here ever since. I can't complain. I'm just happy to be here.
Melissa: Now, recovering from the physical injuries is one part, the other is-- You are clearly-- I can see the size of your personality even though I can't see you, I can only hear you. I can hear your joy, your determination, as you said, being a little bit stubborn but also willing to see the blessings and the new opportunities that have opened. I do worry sometimes about young, brilliant, hard-working, capable Black girls because I wonder if there is more sadness under there or more trauma. I'm wondering about if you're feeling recovered from the emotional and the psychological part of this.
Tiana: I'm 20 now, but for my 19th birthday last year, I actually had looked into a therapist and I got my first psych therapist. She helped me a lot, actually. We had many conversations. Many times, we just talked about problems, not even that but with my friends and just the people that I surrounded myself around before I got shot. I did a break with a community group called BRAVE. It's with Saint Sabina in Chicago.
Melissa: Father Pfleger.
Tiana: Yes, Father Pfleger, my guy. With Father Pfleger, he had a group under him. It was called BRAVE. BRAVE stands for Bold Resistance Against Violence Everywhere. It was basically where teams around Chicago [unintelligible 00:07:43] together to speak out against gun violence, and speak out for more resources, and try to get [unintelligible 00:07:49] gun violence programs going in the neighborhood or mental health homes and things like that. From me doing that, I made a lot of connections with good people who was really in tune with getting change in Chicago and trying to better it. Once I actually became a victim of gun violence and I still decided to speak out and use my voice, they were there. I just will forever be thankful for that support.
When I was going through things and I just needed someone to talk to, I always talk to them. I still tell people to this day that I love to do activist work and speak out for Chicago because I'm not the first person shot in Chicago, I'm not the first person shot in my neighborhood. I'm from Auburn Gresham on the south side of Chicago where someone is shot every two minutes. Yet, the nearest hospital is 15 minutes away and the nearest trauma unit is 20 to 25. I honestly don't know how long we have to say that that is unacceptable.
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Melissa: Thank you to Tiana Lofton, survivor and activist, for joining us today.
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