Dumas stays strong post-tragedy

Executive Director of The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission DuShun Scarbrough engages with the students at the Nonviolence Youth Summit for the Dumas community. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Eplunus Colvin)
Executive Director of The Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission DuShun Scarbrough engages with the students at the Nonviolence Youth Summit for the Dumas community. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Eplunus Colvin)


Rebuilding after a community tragedy is exactly what Dumas, a close-knit farming community of approximately 5,000 people, is trying to do after a horrific mass shooting killed one and injured 26 others at a car show on March 19.

The mass shooting, one of the nation's largest, which happened during the town's annual Hood-Nic celebration, shocked the town, as many of the victims were children. Etched as a bad dream in the minds of many, the traumatic experience, which got national attention, has drawn the community even closer as they rebuild hope and restoration.

Executive Director of the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission DuShun Scarbrough and Dumas Mayor Flora J. Simon teamed up with the Dumas School District to bring a Nonviolence Youth Summit for the Dumas community on Tuesday to encourage the community not to let the mass shooting define what Dumas is.

"Dumas is a great city and what took place in Dumas doesn't speak to who Dumas is throughout the world. We want to show that Arkansas is a beautiful state and Dumas is a wonderful city," said Scarborough.

To help promote resilience, restoration and hope, the commission brought in Hollywood actress, producer and talk show host Vivica A. Fox as a keynote speaker.

"Today is all about hope, healing and restoration," Fox told The Pine Bluff Commercial. "We got to let our kids know that we are going to be here for them."

The Dumas High School gymnasium was filled with students and community members, some of whom were there on that horrific day, including school resource officer J. Libbett-Reynolds of the Dumas Police Department.

"I was actually right there when it started," she said.

Reynolds said she heard gunshots as she was pulling out into traffic and thought it was fireworks.

"I was with my sergeant, we grabbed our ARs and ran towards the threat," she said.

Reynolds described the chaotic scene as "a lot of screaming and running" with multiple children shot.

"I had saw the kids had been shot and so I left from the scene and ended up at the hospital as hospital security and giving aide to those who came into the hospital hurt," said Reynolds, who arrived at the hospital covered in blood after rescuing a 1-year-old who was injured during the shooting.

Shae'la King, an 11th grader, was at work and could see the Hood-Nic event when the shooting happened.

"I work at McDonald's and I could hear and see everything," she said. "I was taking an order at the time in my headset so I had it on. I wasn't paying attention. All of a sudden, I just heard the shooting, so I'm looking at the cameras and I just see everyone running. The policeman are running. Everybody was running trying to come in McDonald's. We couldn't let them in."

King said they were forced to lock the doors and windows. All she could do was watch as people ran away from the scene pleading and crying to come inside for safety, which she described as "sad."

Counseling sessions for first responders, community members and students were immediately offered. The community also came together, but for outsiders looking in, Dumas suddenly had a negative target on its back.

"The incident that occurred during Hood-Nic was an event that actually occurred out of non-respect for the community or for life in general," said Mayor Simon. "As far as Dumas is concerned, it had nothing to do with the normal personalities or actions of events that occur in Dumas."

Simon said she wanted the community to focus on the positives that came from the tragic events such as the community coming together and the Nonviolence Youth Summit. The free event included breakout sessions on financial literacy, community advocacy, healthy living, anti-bullying, employment and education. Besides encouraging words, the event concluded with a candlelight vigil that lit the gymnasium up like twinkling stars in the sky.

"I care about the community. This didn't make them and it ain't going to break them," said Fox. "Things do happen in life. Sometimes things are so traumatic and so unfortunate, but God got us and we're going to move forward in this together."

Scarbrough said the goal of the commission is to show kids before they get to that point of violence to talk to someone. "We wanted to take that opportunity to come to Dumas High School and talk to the youth and to impart knowledge on them and instill a vision in them to promote nonviolence," said Scarbrough.

As far as the city as a whole coming together, Simon said the tragic incident was something that could not have been prevented because it's something nobody actually expected.

"Once we began to actually get over the shock, get over the embarrassment, because the city was actually embarrassed that something happened like that here and get over all of those negative things, then we began to work positively, individually and as a group to rebuild ourselves and our respect for our own community," said Simon.

King said she felt like Dumas came together to help while everyone else blamed Dumas for what happened that day.

"Dumas doesn't want to be seen as that city that the gun shots rang out in. Dumas is much more than that," said Scarbrough.


  photo  A Dumas resident holds up a candle light to raise awareness, motivate change and encourage unity during the Nonviolence Youth Summit. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Eplunus Colvin)
 
 


  photo  Dumas Mayor Flora J. Simon (right) presents keynote speaker, Hollywood actress, producer and talk show host Vivica A. Fox with a custom-made Dumas pottery gift. (Pine Bluff Commercial/Eplunus Colvin)
 
 


Upcoming Events