Kindra Neely, survivor of a mass shooting, recently published “Number to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting,” a graphic novel detailing the tragic incident and its impacts.
Kindra Neely, survivor of the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College (UCC) in Oregon in 2015, recently published her graphic novel, “Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting” on Oct. 11. In her work, Neely includes what happened during the shooting and how she has overcome survivor’s guilt and trauma from it. She hopes that her work helps other survivors of mass shootings.
Neely said to NPR, “[This book] was something that I was kind of looking for right after the shooting had happened. I think for me, I really needed to know what was gonna happen to me in a few years. Like, what was expected or what should I look out for.”
The shooting at UCC on Oct. 1, 2015, killed eight students and one professor and injured eight others. During the shooting, the shooter, a UCC student himself, gave another student a USB flash drive before killing himself. The flash drive contained a manifesto with the shooter’s racist and satanic views.
In “Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting,” Neely included another instance of gun violence during her childhood. While she was living in Texas, there was a drive-by shooting near the house down the street from her own home. This prompted Neely and her mother to move to Oregon.
Along with both tragedies that personally affected her, Neely described the emotions and trauma that come with additional mass shootings across the country, including the shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando in 2016, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in 2018, and most recently the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. She said, “Uvalde especially really felt like the wind got knocked out of me. It’s not always like that with every single one. And I kind of do take precautions now just so that way I’m not overwhelmed by it. But yeah, it really felt like a punch to the gut.”
Drawing the art for her graphic novel has truly helped Neely with all the emotions, grief and trauma that she has experienced after the UCC shooting and with other shootings since then. In an interview with “The Mary Sue,” Neely described, “I loved working on that mosaic. There was an indescribable relationship between me and the act of service that I was doing. It gave me a place to sit unapologetically with grief and to offer the same once it was completed. Art really gave me a more fluid language to express emotions and feelings that I couldn’t otherwise say.”
Through her work, Neely has found a way to express herself and truly heal. She hopes that her graphic novel does the same for others and allows them to feel heard. She said, “I hope it gives them the courage that it gave me. I hope that in seeing someone else struggle to find their way, they can see that it’s never too late to ask for help. No matter how dark or far you think you’ve fallen, there are people that will help you back up.”
“Numb to This: Memoir of a Mass Shooting” is currently available at Barnes and Noble and on Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play Books and Amazon. You can also check out Neely’s interview with Sabrina Blandon from HerCampus at New York University here.