It was a night of prayer, music and healing when the community of Half Moon Bay met to commemorate the seven lives that were lost in the massive shooting on farm workers in 2023.
It was described as violence in the workplace when a farm worker opened fire on two farms in Half Moon Bay.
Members of the community gathered to support each other in this time of sorrow. For many, time has not healed the emotional wounds.
“It has been two tough years,” says Sandra Sencion, program director of Alas Farmwerker.
Sencion does Outreach for agricultural workers with an organization called Alas. She has collaborated directly with the Latino families that have been affected by the shooting. Sao Leng you meet the Asian families who cannot forget what happened.
“Although it is now two years ago, they still remember the day they heard the gunshots,” Sao Leng says you of self -help for the elderly. “All those memories occasionally have a flashback. They will never forget it.”
Although many services have been offered to the families of the victims, the healing has obstacles. This band was founded through the cultural music therapy program, to sing and play music during sorrow.
“That has been a huge help for our community to come out and share how they feel,” said Sencion. “Sometimes the regular therapy, the 1-1, is a lot to process. So through music, we discovered through texts that our community found the means to heal.”
Since the massive shooting, San Mateo County and other government agencies have offered services to improve the living conditions of agricultural workers.
But organizations now fear that agricultural workers will be afraid of asking for help.
“Our community will have to be connected,” said Sao Leng U. “We must share the information and not be afraid to be deported.”
When agricultural workers, community leaders and residents gathered for this wake, the message was prepared on Friday evening that this is a united community, willing to help neighbors in need.
“Since this tragedy has taken place, I think that our community is more than ever determined to continue to work together and to continue to improve the circumstances for our farm workers and our community as a whole,” said Sencion.
