(NewsNation) —Manuel Oliver’s 17-year-old son Joaquin was one of the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, when gunman Nikolas Cruz opened fire in the building.
Every time another incident like what occurred in Parkland in 2018 happens, the wound of losing his son is reopened for Oliver, a wound that is unfortunately opened far too often.
Again this week, the memories and immeasurable suffering endured by families like Oliver’s was back at the center of America’s attention when 19 children and two adults were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, when a gunman locked himself in a classroom and opened fire on students.
Critics have said it is too early to “politicize” the conversation about Robb Elementary School by talking about gun restrictions. Oliver says to anyone who takes that stance, “If you don’t want to talk about Texas, then let’s talk about Parkland.”
The families who have lost children will always bear the emotional scars of the loss, but what is more important is how the rest of the country reacts, Oliver said.
“It’s not about how we feel, my wife or me, it’s about how the rest of the people are taking this. … Part of the country just moves on, and meanwhile a lot of families are suffering really bad because they will miss their loved ones forever,” Oliver said.
The tragic massacre at Robb Elementary School came just a week after 10 people were killed by an 18-year-old gunman at a supermarket in Buffalo in a week that delivered Americans one crushing mass shooting after another. But the question now becomes, how long will America’s attention stay on the issue of gun violence before it strays to something else?
“We don’t know how long this will last in the media,” Oliver said. “I’ve seen this happen before. This is why I keep saying that to anyone that is in that location now, you have to take advantage of the media while they are there if you want to send a message.”
Oliver has turned to a unique form of activism in wake of the death of his son, using his son’s digital likeness to make videos about anti-gun violence initiatives.
“We refuse to tag Joaquin as a number, as a victim, because he had so many dreams and he wanted to do so many things in life,” Oliver said. “So we as parents, like any regular parent, are supporting our kid.”
Using Joaquin’s likeness was criticized, Oliver said.
“They told us that we were making a scene, that you cannot bring someone from death back here,” Oliver said. “And we said, ‘No? Why not?’ We want to do this, we are dealing with the process of making this artificial intelligence video, which is very hard, but at the end of the day it is about Joaquin’s statements.”
To see their son come back to life as an artificial intelligence was “a little bit shocking” for the Olivers.
“But we are a part of a process, we are involved in every single creative process,” Oliver said. “We have more than 24 companions out there, we have been in the most, big, creative festivals around the planet, we have worked with the best creative firms.”