{"id":11353,"date":"2018-09-13T15:08:44","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T21:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=11353"},"modified":"2018-10-18T23:43:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T05:43:51","slug":"remembering-botham-jean-how-does-a-community-react-when-tragedy-hits-close-to-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2018\/09\/13\/remembering-botham-jean-how-does-a-community-react-when-tragedy-hits-close-to-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Botham Jean | How does a community react when tragedy hits close to home?"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sept. 6, Botham Jean, a 2016 graduate of the university, was killed in his Dallas apartment by a Dallas off-duty police officer Amber Guyger, who claimed she entered his apartment, mistaking it for her own. What followed the breaking news was a whirlwind of emotion catapulted into the national spotlight by a far-reaching community in mourning. This coverage included testimonies to Jean\u2019s character and claims of racial injustice surrounding his death by a white police officer.<\/em><\/p>\n

In wake of his death, Jean\u2019s alma mater became a hot spot for conversation \u2014 conversation that juxtaposed Jean\u2019s time at the university with the purported injustice of his killing.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

On the steps of the George S. Benson Auditorium and online across the world on Sept. 10, the Harding community and people nationwide honored Jean\u2019s legacy at a candlelight vigil.<\/em><\/p>\n

The following are three accounts from people with distinctly different connections to Jean, remembering his life and recounting what it looks like when national headlines hit close to home.<\/em><\/p>\n

H<\/b>annah\u00a0Owens, director of digital production media in University Communications and Marketing (UCM), found out about Jean’s death during her morning commute on Sept. 7.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI just started crying while driving. I was in shock,\u201d Owens said. \u201cHe was a Rock House intern, and so we worked together in the Bisons for Christ leadership. I watched chapel every day, and I would always see him on the screen. At the beginning of the song, you hear the song leader mic before they cut to the audience mic. I loved his voice and loved when they held the mic a little longer on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reacting to the news, Owens said she immediately began thinking about how the university would respond to the situation. When she arrived to work, she and the UCM team began crafting a message and working through requests from local, state and national media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe immediately got a ton of calls from media wanting multiple types of media about Botham \u2014 chapel videos, pictures, a video of what [President Bruce] McLarty referenced in chapel,\u201d Owens said. \u201cEveryone wanted something that could speak to his character \u2014 showing how many lives he touched. We were a big part of that because he was so involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the news ballooned into a national story, UCM worked to provide media, set up campus interviews and field response to his death from the Harding community. According to Owens, their office received requests from national news organizations like Good Morning America, The New York Times and CBS Evening News.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIncorporating Harding into the story and communicating about his past was a way to show how many lives he touched, how many awesome things he did and how many people loved him,\u201d Owens said. \u201cObviously this is very sad, but he was such a cool person. To be able to share with people who were talking about such a tragic circumstance the amazing things he did here was uplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university\u2019s message and media efforts, Owens said, were shaped by a desire to support the Harding community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I wanted to communicate with that post was our community here was devastated by this news and shocked,\u201d Owens said. \u201cWe coveted anyone\u2019s prayers to help everyone who was impacted by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the vigil on Sept. 10, Owens said she had not allowed herself to grieve the magnitude of the situation \u2014 UCM had been working around the clock to provide support to media and the Harding community.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was singing \u2018Surround Us Lord.\u2019 I could hear people walking up who hadn\u2019t got there yet already singing the song,\u201d Owens said. \u201cThat was the first time I let myself cry since we found out and recognize what a great place this is for a community who is grieving something so tragic. I\u2019m standing there with tears in my eyes and this candle, and all I keep thinking is, \u2018Harding is a great place, but I have to do my job.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When Owens spotted a cameraman from a local TV station looking for a camera angle, she offered to take the cameraman to the McInteer balcony for an aerial shot. It was back to work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs we walked inside, he asked, \u2018So, do you guys just know all the words to the songs?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, we sing and worship together all the time.\u2019 He just said, \u2018Wow.\u2019 I forget this is something that is unique to people about our community that we just experience every day and might not really know how special it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since finding out about the incident, Owens said a chance to grieve was misplaced by the needs of aiding a national story that had landed in Harding\u2019s backyard, but the vigil forgot the world\u2019s watching eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBotham led us in worship and things like what we did together that night,\u201d Owens said. \u201cI think, emotionally, at the vigil, I wasn\u2019t even thinking about national attention because in that moment, everyone was there to pay tribute to Botham\u2019s life through worship, and at the time, that was the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Kazu Fujisawa came to know Jean through their membership in men’s social club Sub T-16. Jean was the officer in charge of Club Week when Fujisawa joined in fall 2014.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>\u201cWhen I joined my social club, he was one of the guys I was looking up to. He was an RA in Keller when I moved in,\u201d Fujisawa said. \u201cI met him and became friends with him, and at the club open house, I got to be a lot closer with him. He was one of the guys who made me want to join Sub T.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fujisawa saw the news on his Facebook timeline on the morning of Sept. 7, but said he dismissed it as another national news headline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI read through, and I just couldn\u2019t believe that happened to Botham,\u201d Fujisawa said. \u201cI still feel the same. I just can\u2019t comprehend it \u2014 how he got killed, how she got into the wrong room. So many questions I couldn\u2019t figure out and couldn\u2019t imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the afternoon of Sept. 7, members of Sub T-16 had created a GoFundMe page to support Jean\u2019s family with travel and funeral expenses. At the time of press, the GoFundMe had garnered more than $38,000. The photo attached to the page, taken by Fujisawa, was used across digital, traditional and TV media as the story gained traction, making appearances in places like ABC World News Tonight With David Muir.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The photo spreading across the globe, Fujisawa said, was less important than the memory it took with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s in the cafeteria, and he had a plate in front of him with something on it and A1 sauce,\u201d Fujisawa said. \u201cHe\u2019s smiling and talking. It\u2019s a fun moment in the cafeteria. It was just an everyday moment for me. It made me think that every moment I see a friend is precious. You never know what happens tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

A national story unfolding with the Harding community intertwined, Fujisawa said coping with the loss of his friend is a challenging process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great guy, and I knew that before, but I feel like it\u2019s making me realize again how great he was,\u201d Fujisawa said. \u201cHe\u2019s been graduated for two years, but people still remember and love him. It made me realize that it\u2019s heartwarming although sad. It\u2019s sad because I felt like it became a big political thing. It\u2019s sad because I think it became more than his death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Carson Gentry knew Jean from his three years as a ministry intern with The Original Rock House, where Gentry’s parents serve as ministers for college and community outreach.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Gentry said his family was like Jean\u2019s American family. Jean spent each Thanksgiving with the Gentrys in Dallas and led Rock House mission trips, which the Gentrys participated in, to his home country of St. Lucia. His mother called and told him the news on the morning of Sept. 7.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me what they had been told \u2014 that the woman who was an off-duty cop came in and shot him, thinking it was her apartment. Then she told me that it was Botham,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cI was just in disbelief and shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gentry remembers Jean as an older brother \u2014 remembering Jean\u2019s love for pizza and his always-messy room. It is the small details, Gentry said, that he will never forget about Jean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [the national coverage] does make it harder because it is a constant reminder. It is also frustrating because people try to make it something it\u2019s not,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cThere are all of these people commenting on the news report who have no idea who he is. It\u2019s nice here where we can remember him for who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the vigil, Gentry was asked to lead worship \u2014 something Jean had done countless times during his time at Harding. Remembering Jean in worship was, for Gentry, a way to bring the story back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know if I was going to make it through that, and I had some parts where I was struggling, but I\u2019m very glad I did it,\u201d Gentry said. \u201cI felt like it honored him because I looked up to him song-leading wise. I grew up watching him lead songs, so this felt like a good way to give that back to him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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