Wrecking equipment has begun demolishing the building at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman’s rampage in 2018 ended with 17 people dead. As the rumble of destruction echoed, people explained why ripping the building down was so meaningful — and so crucial, the Associated Press reports. Ex-student Bryan Lequerique said, "It’s something that we all need. It’s time to bring an end to this very hurtful chapter in everyone’s lives.” Eric Garner, a broadcasting and film teacher, said: “For 6½ years we have been looking at this monument to mass murder that has been on campus every day. ... So coming down, that’s the monumental event.” When violence comes to a public place, like Parkland. Uvalde, Columbine. Sandy Hook, a Buffalo supermarket, a South Carolina church, a Pittsburgh synagogue, an Orlando nightclub, a delicate question lingers: What should be done with buildings where blood was shed, where lives were upended, where loved ones were lost forever? Approaches have varied. Parkland and others chose demolition. Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue, site of a 2018 shooting, was torn down to make way for a new sanctuary and memorial.
The Tops Friendly Markets in Buffalo and the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., sites of racist mass shootings, both reopened. Columbine High School still stands, though its library, where so much bloodshed occurred, was replaced after impassioned debate. “Finding a balance between its function as a high school and the need for memorialization has been a long process,” wrote former student Riley Burkhart. “Denying such opportunities for those who celebrate the persecution and deaths of those different from themselves is a perfectly sound reason to tear down buildings where mass killings occurred,” said Daniel Fountain, a professor of history at Meredith College in North Carolina.