Checking in on the trials of the three vigilantes who lynched Ahmaud Aubrey and the one who murdered two Black Lives Matter protesters and wounded another, I was appalled at the horror that is threatening the future of all Americans. But then, yesterday, I heard the chilling words of an American mother who virtually abetted and assisted her 15-year-old son in terrorizing his school and the entire community. Did the boy at least have a father who might have provided him with responsible parenting? No – I soon found out that his father had bought him the gun that he used to slaughter 4 schoolmates in cold blood – a Christmas gift. A gift fit for celebrating Christ?
As I listened, it became clear that school personnel, aware of the danger that this troubled boy posed for the school community, had met with the parents urging them to get him into therapeutic counseling – and asked them to take him home. Did they make a responsible decision, hearing the urgency of his situation, and therefore do as they were asked by concerned educators? No – they refused; so, he went back to class and soon emerged from a bathroom, gun blazing, mowing down whatever students and staff were in his range.
As a teacher, who has spent half my life in schools – as an American, I am horrified.
Is this what our country has become? A place where we allow ignorant, self-centered, thoughtless adults to wantonly accept and support the murder of innocent people in the name of falsely aggrandized “rights”. What of the rights of people who lose their limbs, or their lives at the hands of these domestic terrorists? What about the rights of parents to see their children go to school and return home safely? What about the rights of citizens to protest peacefully, or jog around the neighborhood without being threatened with weapons of war?
There have been countless attempts to pass legislation in Congress, and in many State Legislatures – sensible gun regulation: measures to keep weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill, or people who have proven to be a danger to themselves or others, to require gun owners to secure their weapons so that they are not available to children or others who cannot be trusted with firearms.
But, here we are, in the 21st Century, and our leaders cannot succeed in passing common sense laws that could help prevent these tragedies. We are stuck on stupid.
When I began teaching in 1978, I had never heard of Active Shooter Drills in schools. In the 1990’s, they became commonplace. Over the last 20 years, staff and students have become practiced at “hitting the floor”, barricading classroom doors, keeping silent so as not to attract the attention of a crazed shooter.
This is horrifying – it is tragic – it is unconscionable. That Educators cannot count on parents to be partners in keeping our children safe, is beyond belief for me.
One can only hope that thoughtful citizens in communities across our country are paying attention and feel as violated as I do – that they recognize that nurturing violence like this will ultimately destroy the fabric of our society.
Thank you to the solemn jurors who returned “Guilty” verdicts in the case of the vigilantes who lynched Ahmaud Aubrey. They gave me hope.
Holding the Crumble parents accountable in the deaths and injury of the Oxford victims is crucial. It would be a much needed warning for all those parents who should be paying attention to their children, teaching them to respect the rights of others and showing them how to value the precious gift of life.