CINCINNATI — Off of Reading Road, next to a small table decorated with brightly colored balloons, Margaret Long, sporting her sash and crown, was waving happily to every passing car.
In the 30 years since her shooting, Long has sought after and embraced a variety of titles: survivor, activist, motivational speaker and now she’s happy to introduce her neighborhood to her newest title: Ms. Wheelchair, Ohio USA.
It’s Long’s second time wearing the crown, but her first in more than a decade.
Having just celebrated her 50th birthday, she thought her pageant days were long behind her, but after two years of higher than average shootings and homicides in Cincinnati, the longtime anti-violence activist decided it was time to get back in the spotlight.
Long fundraises for the pageant off of Reading Road. (Michelle Alfini/ Spectrum News 1)
“I wanted to take my platform to the national stage,” she said.
The Ms. Wheelchair USA pageant recognizes women from across the country for their work in disability activism.
After two years of virtual pageants, the competition is returning in-person to Cuyahoga Falls in July to crown Ms. Wheelchair USA, and Long is looking forward to joining her fellow activists and sharing her story.
“My message is real positive, you know, what I’ve been through and what I’m doing to make me a little stronger,” she said.
In 1991, Long was shot. At the time her life was following an entirely different path she said.
It was shortly before her 20th birthday. She was drunk and got into a fight with her then-boyfriend. Long said during the argument she took out a knife and the man’s father, not knowing who she was, shot her.
“The bullet hit me in the neck, pierced my spine, automatically severed my spinal cord, came out the bottom of my shoulder blade on the right side,” she said, recounting her story at a recent anti-violence event.
Long said she tells the story any chance she gets, especially to young people because she said they need to understand what can happen if you get involved in violence or escalate disagreements to fights.
“When they took that tube out of my throat, I couldn’t say a word,” she said, recounting her time in the hospital. “I couldn’t move a limb.”
Long speaks to a group of students at an anti-violence event. (Michelle Alfini/ Spectrum News 1)
From then on, Long was paralyzed from the chest down, but when her voice came back, she said she used it to beg her family and everyone she knew not to seek revenge. She credits that for the reason no one else suffered in the wake of her shooting.
“Please, when you get into a dispute with somebody, try to walk away,” she said.
In the decades since her shooting, Long said she’s tried to make a difference, reconciling with her shooter, speaking at events across the city, working with the local chapter of Mom’s Demand Action and meeting with local leaders.
Long became paralyzed from the chest down after being shot in 1991. (Michelle Alfini/ Spectrum News 1)
Unfortunately, she said it’s difficult to know if her words are sinking in, though her message seems to grow more and more urgent every day, not just in Cincinnati, but nationwide.
The day she spoke with Spectrum News, reports on the shooting in Buffalo, New York, and the gunman’s motivations were still coming out, and hours later news came out about another mass shooting in Laguna Woods, California.
“I get tired sometimes,” Long said. “But when I hear it, it makes me want to fight more. When it happens, its like, I can’t give up.”
The Ms. Wheelchair Ohio pageant will take place at the CentreStage Theater in Cuyahoga Falls on July 15 and 16.
Long is hoping to raise $2,800 to cover the cost of the trip and hotel stay during her pageant experience.
