Here & Now

Steve Scaffidi Speaks on Sikh Temple Shooting Anniversary

Frederica Freyberg:

But first, victims of the mass shooting at an Oak Creek Sikh temple were remembered this week on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy. Hundreds of mourners gathered on Monday at the temple where a white supremacist took the lives of the six worshippers in a storm of bullets. Since the mass shooting Oak Creek mayor Steve Scaffidi has said he has grown to love Sikh temple members as family because they’ve shown me compassion and kindness even in the midst of their great sorrow. Mayor Scaffidi joins us now from Oak Creek. Thank you very much for doing so, Mayor.

Steve Scaffidi:

Thank you for having me on.

Frederica Freyberg:

Even as you see those images and relived that this week from a year ago, what is that like for you and others in the community?

Steve Scaffidi:

Well, it’s hard. It brings up the emotions and all the grief of that time period. So that comes all welling back. It has been a year but, you know, the story is still fresh in all of our minds and I’ll still remember that day. I'll remember that day for the rest of my life. It also was a symbol of how of the resilience of Oak Creek and the resilience of the temple community and how we’ve come together, how we're relating better as a community, with each other. And so that’s a positive I take out of it. That was never more apparent than Monday night.

Frederica Freyberg:

Tell us what has happened in your community in terms of bridging those cultural divides following this mass shooting.

Steve Scaffidi:

One of the things that I was so impressed with the people at the temple was that their willingness to become engaged with the community, with our residents. What I’ve seen in the last year, they’ve stepped up and participated in events, the traditional city events, like tree lighting, Christmas tree lightings and our summer concert series, things like that they normally didn’t do as much with. A few members did, but as a group they’re showing up at those events in significant numbers. And one thing I’ve also noticed as mayor is that any event we hold now in the city is maxed out, well attended. I think people are understanding that even though this bad thing happened here, it’s pulled us together. Initially from the wanting to support the community, but now from a community perspective where they understand this really is The diversity of our city is something we should celebrate. And I think the community is starting to get that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Was there a concerted effort made on the city’s part and its community members to make this happen or did it just organically happen?

Steve Scaffidi:

I think the chief and I, we've known each other for 35 years, life-long friends, but we are understanding when things like this happen, to this scale that it happened, when six people were horribly murdered in their place of worship, it takes leadership to kind of say we can survive this. We can make– We can build a stronger community. Both Chief Edwards and I decided early on, that night 2012, that we weren’t going to let it tear us down. We were going to find ways to make our city stronger. And we’ve done numerous initiatives, both from the civic side and the law enforcement side, to make that happen.

Frederica Freyberg:

How might the tragedy have been prevented?

Steve Scaffidi:

That’s a very difficult question. The problems of violence in this country are not simple. They’re related to many different things, issues of how we relate to each other or not relate to each other. There's obviously gun issues; the availability, guns falling into the wrong hands, enforcement issues. We have mental health that plays into it. As far as our specific tragedy, I think it started– it's a long-term solution. That means people have to start relating to each other better, and understanding the differences in the cultures and the faiths and the races. But learning that those differences are not things that should separate us or tear us apart, but they should actually enrich our lives. That education, I think, is something that has to start now if it already hasn’t. Children I have much more faith in. I think they get it. The education process starts there.

Frederica Freyberg:

We know that you are a founding member of this group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. We also know that the shooter in the case in Oak Creek, his gun was legal. But now, you know, kind of this week people are talking about a new mandatory minimum sentence for people that possess a gun illegally, and legislation is being drafted, the governor is open to that. What is your position on that kind of legislation?

Steve Scaffidi:

I think it’s smart. One of the reasons I signed on with the Mayors for Illegal Guns was– And I didn’t embrace all the concepts they laid out at the beginning. But the ones I do is we need to do a better job of keeping guns out of the hands that shouldn’t have them. That means background checks that really work, are significant, that actually find people that shouldn’t have guns, and don’t allow that transaction to happen. But I do support the fact that we should not allow people to have guns to buy them. One of the ways you do that is to strictly enforce the laws we have. If you are a person who has committed a felony, you need not to be allowed to have a gun. That’s something I will support, and I think there is cross party support for that. To me, that’s indicative that this is the right way to go. When you start seeing that. When you see the party lines melting for an issue that's as important to our country as this is, I think that shows we’re going in the right direction.

Frederica Freyberg:

Mayor Steve Scaffidi, thank you very much for joining us.

Steve Scaffidi:

Thank you for having me on.