(RNN) – A student who survived the Parkland, FL, shooting last month wrote an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times detailing her personal history with the gunman, Nikolas Cruz.
The piece also argues against the idea that had students been nicer to Cruz, the shooting might never have happened.
Isabelle Robinson wrote the piece, titled, “I Was Kind to Nikolas Cruz. He Still Killed My Friends,” and published on Tuesday by The Times.
Robinson wrote the first time she met Cruz was after he threw an apple at her back. “His eyes were lit up with a sick, twisted joy as he watched me cry.”
She added she was speaking out to combat the notion, popularized through the #WalkUpNotOut movement, that “implies that acts of school violence can be stopped if students befriend disturbed or potentially dangerous classmates.”
#WalkUpNotOut arose as a response to national school walkouts earlier this month as a stand against school shootings. Its central premise is that “walking up” and interacting positively with socially isolated students might potentially do more to stem violence in schools than legislative measures like gun control.
It was endorsed by a father, Ryan Petty, of a girl killed in the Parkland shootings, Alaina Petty.
The #March4OurLives supporters will accomplish only two things. 1. They'll exercise their 1st Amendment right. 2. They'll get a little exercise. If you really want to stop the next school shooter #walkupnotout pic.twitter.com/9kY3k53xcr
— Ryan Petty (@rpetty) March 13, 2018
In the New York Times Op-Ed, Robinson wrote she was a peer counselor of Cruz’s, explicitly tasked with the kind of social and academic reinforcement encouraged by #WalkUpNotOut.
“I was forced to endure his cursing me out and ogling my chest until the hourlong class period was up. When I was done, I felt a surge of pride for having organized his binder and helped him with his homework,” she wrote.
She said that looking back now, she feels “horrified” to know she was left alone with someone “who had a known history of rage and brutality.”
A number of Robinson’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas peers endorsed her piece on Twitter.
One of friends wrote this amazing piece. It is definitely worth the read. https://t.co/wdpifT1RKG
— Aly Sheehy?? (@Aly_Sheehy) March 27, 2018
Everyone needs to read this article by my friend Isabelle. The shooter that killed our friends at our school harassed and bullied our peers even before the shooting. https://t.co/gLYvJmqhJ7
— Hannah // Survivor//MSD Strong (@Han_inthemirror) March 27, 2018
Please read this, a piece by my friend @isabaeIIe https://t.co/kWI27QGvgw
— Suzanna Barna (@suzannaraye) March 27, 2018
Robinson wrote that while “I strongly believe in and have seen the benefits of reaching out to those who need kindness most,” the job of helping troubled youth should be handled by professionals, not other kids.
“The implication that Cruz’s mental health issues could have been solved if only he had been loved more by his fellow students is both a gross misunderstanding of how these diseases work and a dangerous suggestion that puts children on the front line,” Robinson wrote.
“No amount of kindness or compassion alone would have changed the person that Nikolas Cruz is and was, or the horrendous actions he perpetrated.”
Copyright 2018 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
