Roseburg, Oregon is a community about 175 miles south of Portland with a population of only 22,000 — less than four percent of Portland’s.
Last week, Roseburg was thrust into the national eye after a shooter opened fire at Umpqua Community College. As is often the case, the tragedy has sparked national conversation. But beneath the ensuing political debates, rumors and social media consolations, is a community still working to recover.
UP Junior Kai Seely calls Roseburg home, along with 10 other students on campus. He emphasized the importance of remembering that there are real people behind the media coverage. He shared his experience this past week with The Beacon:
How did you find out about the shootings?
My mom actually texted me (Thursday) morning. She saw it on the news and she texted me, so then I checked news outlets on the Internet to figure out more about it.
Did you know anyone who was involved?
I didn’t know any of the victims directly. Well, I played basketball with one of the kids once or twice. But, it’s such a small town that you know somebody who knows somebody. One of the victims was the sister of one of the kids I graduated high school with. You’re all connected somehow in such a small community.
What did you hear from friends and family who live there? How are they doing?
At first, it’s really hard for everybody to deal with. My family is a little bit removed because none of my family went to UCC, but my brother goes to the high school and they were in lockdown all day, so there was some scariness with that. Mostly with friends what I heard initially was just kind of checking in with people, saying that they’re ok. Kind of later on, I texted a lot of people, it’s probably more contact than I’ve been in with many of those people for the last two years.
Are there any specific or especially meaningful ways that you know of that people are coming together?
I think the biggest one is that there was a huge candlelight vigil at a park in Roseburg, and I heard that several thousand people came out and participated in that. In a town of about 20,000, that’s a pretty big number. That’s probably the single biggest way that I’ve noticed, but there’s been a lot of small things like t-shirt printings, kind of showing solidarity with the victims and the people affected by it.
What would you like the UP community to know about the situation? Or is there anything the UP community could do to help?
I think the UP community has been really supportive. I’ve received a lot of supporting messages from fellow students, from faculty and staff. The candlelight vigil that was held in the chapel was really nice and really helpful. I know I really appreciated that.
President Obama is going to Roseburg on Friday to meet with victims’ families, and I understand there are reports saying that he’s not welcome because of his stance on stricter gun control. Do you have any advice for President Obama on how to approach the situation? Or anything to say about people who have said he’s not welcome?
I would say don’t listen to the people who say he’s not welcome. He’s the president of the U.S. He’s going to go and honor the victims of this tragedy by visiting with their families, and he should be able to do that. It’s not a political issue; it’s a personal issue. He’s extending his personal sorrow and grief toward the families that are directly involved. And to the people who say he’s not welcome because he is just going to further his liberal agenda, that’s not it at all, it’s a personal issue.
So I think maybe to answer your previous question about what I would like people to know about Roseburg as a whole, is that there are people on both sides of the discussion. Even though basically all you hear in the news is that people in Roseburg are not looking at gun control and not appreciating President Obama’s support, there are just as many people on the other side, you just don’t hear about it. And I think that it’s just good to point out that Roseburg is really tight and very supportive, and I think that you can see how tight the community is in some of the events that have gone on.
Is there anything else you would like The Beacon to know, or anything you’d like to emphasize?
I think an emphasis on kind of the interconnectedness of such a small town like that. I’ve had a lot of people ask me, “Did you know anybody who was killed?” And that’s not the whole issue. Pretty much everyone at my high school either went to UCC for a little while or took classes there during high school or certainly their best friend goes, or something like that. And the same goes for the community. If a community member isn’t directly affected by it, a lot of them went to UCC or know someone who goes to UCC or has a friend’s child who goes to UCC. UCC is a major part of the community, and the community is so small that you know somebody. You know somebody who knows somebody.
