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"For three millennia our main social hypothesis -- that the moral and legal way of thinking about and responding to violence (by calling it evil, forbidding it "just say no" -- and punishing it) will prevent violence (or at least bring it under control) -- has been singularly unsuccessful in reducing the level of violence. Three thousand years should be an adequate length of time to test any hypothesis." -- Dr. James Gilligan, Violence: Reflections of a National Epidemic (Vintage, 1996)
The psychic ripples of Littleton, Colorado continue to radiate out across the nation, as cases continue to arise of students either calling in threats to their schools, or writing threatening communications on the Internet. Students have been either arrested or expelled for bringing weapons to school, or threatening to do so, in states across the union.
The events reflect the heightened fear and attention of school authorities, but it also reflects the higher incidence of threats coming from students who sense the vulnerability of their most hated adversary (school), and are reacting to this new sensation.
The reactions of state and federal politicians is as ridiculous as it is depressing: more cops, tougher gun laws, more security cameras, and more metal detectors in American schools. None of these things go to the heart of what actually happened in Columbine High School, nor will it likely prevent a depressed, deadly and utterly suicidal youth bent on destruction. Indeed, there have already been school killing cases where young boys laid in wait on the outside of their schools, and slew students as they left. Which of these political "solutions" would have solved this type of problem?
What Littleton, Colorado reflects is something akin to a very real sickness of the soul; a coldness that comes from growing up young, unloved, depressed and in a permanent funk of despair. It is a nastiness that is distinctly American. When I heard that the shooters of Colorado were young boys who felt that they were humiliated by school jocks, I thought of Gilligan's admonition on the impact of humiliation as a cause of violence;
"I have yet to see a serious act of violence that was notprovoked by the experience of feeling shamed and humiliated, disrespected and ridiculed, and that did not represent the attempt to prevent or undo this "loss of face" -- no matter how severe the punishment, even if it includes death. For we misunderstand these men at our peril, if we do not realize they mean it literally when they say they would rather kill or mutilate others, be killed or mutilate themselves, than live without pride, dignity, or self-respect." [Gilligan, J., Violence (1996), p. 110]
While Gilligan is here discussing men who are held in maximum security prisons, he could just as easily be describing young men who feel forced to go to society's schools, especially those who regard schools as places of psychological confinement or repression, as opposed to institutions which reflect the idea of freedom.
But what can schools teach in the prisonhouse of nations, except for the way of repression? As French philosopher, Michel Foucault once asked,"Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals -- which all resemble prisons?" [Discipline & Punishment (1995)]
What is more insane than the President of the United States, and unofficial commander-in-chief of the NATO forces, talking about the danger of TV violence while soldiers under his command kill hundreds of innocent people and whitewash officially-sanctioned murder under the name of "collateral damage?" What does the danger of video-game style simulated violence mean in the face of curling, acrid smoke rising from the ashes of Waco?
Children, especially bright young men of this generation, see this, and understand this. They are heirs of one of the most violent people on earth, and their spirits burn with the yearning to give voice to their dark urges.
Regrettably, Littleton, although a morbid memorial to all that is fearful of how young America sees its tomorrows, will not be the last.
The late Black nationalist, Malcolm X once warned, when former US President, John F. Kennedy, was slain, the "chickens have come home to roost."
Littleton, while not the last, will not be the worst.
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Copyright 1999 Mumia Abu-Jamal. All Rights Reserved.
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