School Shooting/Gun Violence/Gun Control

Top Left: Shooters of the Columbine High School Massacre. Top Middle: Victims of the Columbine Shooting
Bottom: Victims of the Virginia Tech Mass Shooting on April 16, 2007

Columbine High School Shooting Victims

On April 20th, 1999, The Columbine High School Shooting Massacred shocked the nation and the debate on gun violence and gun control continue to this present day. Every time I see the faces of the victims, I can't help noticing why mass public school shooting has become the new norm and yet those in power as state high-level officials have chosen to become blind and not handle the problem. Without any sort of restrictive gun legislation, gun violence will continue to plague our society.

I believe that in the end, it is not so much about protecting the second amendment right of our constitution which pro-gun advocates call for, but it really comes down to making a profit off gun sales and keeping people misinformed. In a book from Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, LOADED: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment; Dunbar-Ortiz takes apart some of the common discourse around the Second Amendment and shows how all these arguments are really nothing more but racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. The American obsession with guns is inextricably linked to white supremacy, both American Holocaust of the Indigenous people but also the enslavement of Black people. 

“Violence perpetrated by armed settlers, even genocide, was not absent in the other territories where the British erected settler-colonies—Australia, Canada, and New Zealand but the people never declared the gun a God-given right; only the founding fathers of the United States did that. And the people of the other Anglo settler-colonies did not have economies, governments, and social orders based on the enslavement of other human beings. The United States is indeed “exceptional,” just not in the way usually intoned by politicians and patriots.”  ― Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment

After the Mass Shooting at Parkland, Florida, the American People was screaming for change on gun policy and banning assault weapons. Even members of the NRA and gun owners support universal background check and tighter gun control, but executives from the NRA and weaponry manufacturers say otherwise. In a recent report from the New York Times, 79% of NRA members support banning of gun sales to the mentally ill and 72% believe of banning sales to those on watch lists. See news video clip here.

Gun violence has gotten so bad with the constant fear mongering from the mainstream media, that rather than try to de-escalate gun violence, lawmakers escalate the problem. The NRA and their political minions are advocating for arming teachers! There you have it, kids! Your sweet and kind favorite teacher will one day be caring a semi-automatic pistol in the holster or purse to protect you, the kids, and themselves from possible shooters!

It is estimated that almost 50% of “multiple casualtyhomicides” occurred in residences compared to less than 1% in schools. So essentially, arming teachers or having guns in school does not make it safe but makes it worse.

Many securities companies such as IntraLogic Solutions are taking the opportunity to profit over these matters by charging taxpayers for installing tens of thousands of dollars of so-called high-tech security systems on certain school campuses. Even went so far by introducing the school board a bulletproof SmartBoard for kids and teachers to use.

“The chief executive of IntraLogic Solutions Inc., on Long Island reported that his business doubled in size after Sandy Hook school shootings in 2012 and he expected it would climb again following Parkland. Security companies like IntraLogic Solutions market everything from relatively inexpensive special door locks to school lockdown systems that cost tens of thousands of dollars. In July at an industrial expo in Orlando, Florida one school security company exhibited a bulletproof SmartBoard on sale for $2,9000. Their marketing pitch was that students and teachers could hide behind the SmartBoard in the event of an armed intruder in their school. “  

– Alan Singer, Armed Guards, and Teachers Won’t Make Schools Safer

We continue to have mass shootings due to high power assault weapons, but when it comes to public school shootings, it has really decreased since the 1990s. However, security and militarize reforms on school campuses are spreading nationwide. So again, adding more guns makes us safer? Not Really.

James Alan Fox and Emma E. Fridel, “The Three R’s of School Shootings: Risk, Readiness, and Response,” in H. Shapiro, ed., “The Wiley Handbook on Violence in Education: Forms, Factors, and Preventions,” New York: Wiley/Blackwell Publishers, June 2018.

Despite the constant rhetoric coming from all sides of the political spectrum, we must acknowledge that the United States has the greatest number of handguns in the world and the highest handgun homicide rate. The American Public Health Association concludes that the United States must recognize the crisis the fatal injuries inflicted by those in possession of handguns. Also, we must support legislation prohibiting the manufacture, transfer, sale, and handgun ammunition for private use.

Do you believe there was actually a time when crime fell by 66% during the band of assault weapons between the years of 1994-2004 as noted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)? Well, it's TRUE!

However, after the terrorist attack on 9/11, slowly politicians rolled back the banning act of assault weapons. When fear mongering, lies, and deceptions continue to flood the mainstream media, the American public feels that owning a gun is the key to protect their civil liberty. The result of this caused gun sales to rise significantly in the United States after the 9/11 attack.

When I was a teenager at Memorial High School in West New York, I remembered a close friend of mine brought a handgun 45 Colt Revolver to school. Though the gun was not loaded at the time and was stored away in his locker, someone spotted him and called the police. Since he was still a minor at 17 years of age, he was the only sentence for 8 months at a juvenile correction center.

I always wonder what was his intentions to bring a gun to school? Was it too brag about how tough he was? Was it to intimidate others surrounding him or fear of bullies attacking him? The most shocking thing was how easy it was to obtain a gun here in the United States with no real gun control policy. It took me over 2 days to get approval from my health insurance to get vaccinated for MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella).

As we approach the end of the year, I’m wondering if 2019 will be the year where we can finally tackle these ongoing gun violence issues we have been having for decades. We have a long road ahead of us, but this is a fight worth fighting for. 

TAKE ACTION NOW

 https://giffordslawcenter.networkforgood.com/

 https://everytown.org/

by César Omar Sánchez. Community organizer, New York/New Jersey Cuba Si Coalition, Advisory Board Member of ProLibertad: Free All Political Prisoners Campaign.

References

American Public Health Associaton, Support Renewal with Strengthening of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (2003). Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/policies-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-statements/policy-database/2014/07/24/17/55/support-renewal-with-strengthening-of-the-federal-assault-weapons-ban

American Public Health Association, HandGun Regulation. Retrieved from https://www.apha.org/-/media/files/pdf/advocacy/letters/aphagunviolencepreventionpolicystatements.ashx

The Intercept, School Shootings Have Declined Dramatically Since The 1990s. Does It Really Make Sense to Militarize Schools? (2018). Retrieved from https://theintercept.com/2018/03/01/school-shooting-statistics-parkland-florida/

International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, Position Statement of Reducing Gun Violence and Keeping Campuses Safe (2018). Retrieved from https://www.iaclea.org/position-statement-on-reducing-gun-violence

The New York Times, After Sept. 11, A Rise in Gun Sales (2001). Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/09/opinion/l-after-sept-11-a-rise-in-gun-sales-565520.html

Singer, A. (2018). Daily Kos. Armed Guards and TeachersWon't Make School Safer. Retrieved from https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/11/19/1813909/-Armed-Guards-and-Teachers-Won-t-Make-Schools-Safer

Ortiz, R.D. (2018) Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment. City Lights Publishers

Nekvasil, E.K., Cornell, D.G., Huang, F.L. (2015) Prevalence and Offense Characteristics of Multiple Casualty Homicides: Are Schools at Higher Risk Than Other Locations? American Psychological Associaton.

Summaries, Chapters: 9-11: The Death and Life of the Great American School System

"There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part. And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all" 

- Mario Savio

These chapters really open up the eyes of Diane Ravitch and see how little progress our public school education system has succeeded. When you implement a free market business model like many of the hedge fund managers, business executives directors, and even former Mayor Bloomberg from New York City has done, the failure is exposed for all to see. 

Diane Ravitch recalls when she was child how teachers like Mrs. Ratliff put so much love, dedication, and efforts making learning fun. Teachers back then were not so pressured on getting students to meet state requirements. Standardized testing really put teachers to the brink of quitting or getting fired. Like any corporations today, they focus on busting up teachers' union and started to cut their salaries and the school's budget if performance is lacking. Other issues when relying on companies to run the school can bring other issues. For example, corporations like Ford Motor Company and the Carnegie Corporation came up with the idea of putting the control of the school system in the hands of local parents to help loosen tensions caused by race discrimination in the New York City School System. This caused quite a bit of problem including increasing tensions between the African-American and Jewish communities in New York but allowed the school system to be decentralized and put in control of localized school boards. Though some issues were slightly resolved, other problems emerged as the quality of the education within certain districts decreased.

Professor Linguist Noam Chomsky said, "The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves, and who don't know how to be submissive, and so on - because they're dysfunctional to the institutions." - Schools on Trial 

Professor Chomsky was referring was the constant ranking and sorting students based on their performance in school. His assessment is based on continuing of standardized testing and even characterize it as a form of indoctrination to embrace an economic and social system that has little use of thought, let alone resistance.

I strongly agree 100%

Reference: Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Education Malpractice by Nikhil Goyal

Summaries, Chapters: 5-8: The Death and Life of the Great American School System

The New York City schools system during the time when Mayor Michael Bloomberg as in office was the beginning of what will soon be the market business model. Numerous drastic measures were imposed on teachers, unions, and school board members. Mayor Bloomberg did not want an independent school board during his time at the office, but instead wanted direct controls of the schools and no one undermining him. He wanted direct control so badly that he was relocated the Board of Education’s headquarters near the city hall. He sold the original building to real estate developers which they turned it into residential condominiums. The objective plan was to implement the plan CHILDREN FIRST which he announced in January of 2033 on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The plan consisted the following parts:

1. Each school was assigned literacy and mathematics coaches to monitor and enforce the program.
2. Eliminate thirty-two community school districts and replace them with ten large regions and was headed by a superintendent.
3. Created a privately funded Leadership Academy to train principals and others that wanted to become principals to become more business-like educators.
4. Eliminated local school boards which reduced parental involvement

These reforms which Bloomberg imposed to the school’s district in New York City was a corporate model of tightly centralized, and hierarchical to run like a business and management consultants’ firm.

When you look at the NCLB and CHILDREN FIRST policies, they are almost the same. When President Bush took office in 2001, the NCLB policy was approved by Congress. One of the biggest issues of the NCLB was the standardized tests that teachers had to give to the students. Recent studies mentioned that the testing system caused a rising number of dropouts among Black and Latino communities. Other studies from Walt Hany of Boston College says that the standardized tests had a negative impact in the Texas districts.

   “As teachers spent more time preparing students to take standardized tests, the curriculum was narrowed such subjects as science, social studies, and the arts were pushed aside to make time for test preparation. Consequently, students in Texas were actually getting a worse education than before-one tied solely to taking the state tests.” ³ pg.146

Summary on the first few chapters from the book The Death and Life of the Great American School System

The first few chapters cover the beginning of the restructuring of the public school system. Diane makes the argument on how public schools must have a strong curriculum that is grounded in the liberal arts and sciences with plenty of opportunities for children of all ages. After carefully viewing the school system during the late 1960s, Diane wondered why the education system had been decentralized in the first place. After numerous massive researches and studying the history of the school system, she discovered that system had been decentralized in the nineteenth century.

In the 1980s the Department of Education had to meet Republican standards which often met no federal meddling. In other words, it was where "Big Government" that was not allowing future students the proper tools to compete in the global market. The public school began to be run like a business type corporation and was shut down if it was not performed well. During the Bush and Clinton Administration, public schools had to be reformed including deregulation and privatization.

"Months after his inauguration, President Clinton tasked Vice President Al Gore to devise ways to "reinvent" the federal bureaucracy. With the help of David Osborne, Gore created the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, whose purpose was to adopt private-sector management techniques to the public sector. Many of its recommendations involved privatizing, cutting jobs, and implementing performance agreements in which agencies would receive autonomy from regulations in exchange for meeting targets." ¹¹

Diane Ravitch’s conservative view on using the business model to build school curriculum turns “No Child Left Behind” policy that required students to take standardized testing that ultimately scored the school’s performance as well as the students learning capability. However, the when NCLB (No Child Left Behind) was implemented, Diane became increasingly disillusioned and realized that the law bypassed curriculum and standards, and it ignored the social economic status of the children's lives. These standardized tests consist mostly mathematics and reading. The federal government demanded that school generates higher test scores in basic skills. This was a problem, as it ignored such important studies as literature, science, civics, arts, and geography. However, Dian realized that these testing procedures had nothing to do with education. Many teachers believed that the students need a good foundation of knowledge and skills that help them develop a well-furnished mind.
out
to be a huge mistake, as bad policies, and economic reform made schools worst. As mentioned in the book the following is that "A well-educated person has a well-furnished mind, shaped by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics."

What really struck me the most was Chapter 3: The Transformation of District 2 which certain school districts improved, however, the population of Hispanics and African-Americans shrunk while the number of Asian and Caucasians students grew. In other words, in a 1995 data report, forty-three schools within the district Asian and whites outperformed Blacks and Latino students.

"The lowest-performing schools were highly segregated, even though a majority of the district's students were white and Asian, nine schools were more than 75 percent African American and Hispanic." ²¹

Nation at Risk

 

A Nation at Risk? Perhaps now we are heading towards that direction, but during the Reagan administration, this propaganda was used for pushing a political agenda. My assumption was the report presented to Ronald Reagan at the time was just a pretext to advocate for a free market business model within the education system. In a time when competition in the marketplace was at its peak, politicians felt the education system needed more improvement. That will be my assumption on why Reagan started to cut funding from other school programs like music and art and push more of a free market education ideology to students.

    My argument for pushing a for-profit Free Market ideology within the school system has proven time and time again to be a huge failure. The notion that making schools compete for the global competitions is just absurd. This was the beginning of Charter schools that supposedly was going to be the end of Public Schools overall nationwide. The for-profit organization like Education Alternative Inc’s belief that bringing Charter schools in the mix was going to make public education better; by competing for one another. Think about that for a few seconds and let it sink in your thoughts. Public Schools are being run like a business type model and the ones that do poorly does not get reformed, by the entire school gets shut down. This is not hyperbole, but facts when you see the numbers of public schools being replaced with for-profit Charter schools throughout this country.

    I totally do not agree that Hedge fund managers, For-Profit organizations and Religious groups use public school funds to maintain Charter schools. Even though some Charter Schools says they are private it is still being funded by the state with our tax money. For example, let's look at the vouchers which allow students to use public school funds to pay for private schools. These same vouchers were used to push for more religious (Christians) schools. Here is my second argument and that is we cannot conflate church and state within the education system.  I strongly believe by pushing for private religious schools it will create more divisions within the community for those who do not practice Christianity and other religious beliefs. 

    Currently, we are seeing public schools nationwide being shut down and teachers going on strike for better wages, but mostly teachers fighting for public funds for school materials. Imagine, teachers within the public sectors must reach in their pockets to buy books, pencils, papers… etc. "Free Market" as Milton Friedman says "brings freedom in the United States and it is the essence of who we are as Americans." Really? If we look around now, the so-called economic model being imposed on the school system is destroying our future and the next generation that is coming behind us. Unfettered Capitalism that has no regulations will in doubt bring instability and the cost of receiving a proper education will be disastrous. I strongly agree we need to radically revolutionize our education system and implement new ways of administrating our schools.

1950 – 1980 Separate and Unequal

In this important chapter, we can see the rise of student movements with the support of activists, students, parents and other top officials trying to bring equality and desegregate numerous public schools nationwide. Though many schools were desegregated, the equal amount of education was still divided. Many students faced racist violence’s acts towards them and we suspended for taking proper civic actions. One individual that took action was a Chicano civil rights leader from Crystal City, Texas who argued that “There was rigid segregation with the building, within the classrooms. In other words, English One was basically all Anglo, and English Five was basically all Mexican.” – Jose Angel Gutierrez. 

In my opinion, we should teach our students about each other’s culture and history, however, white Anglo-Saxons aggressively force assimilation and imposed their view on how immigrants should be Americanized through the education system.

    Other cities like Topeka, Kansas faced issues of race and segregation within the public schools. Despite the millions of dollars invested to an integrated school, many African Americans were shunned from school activities. Blacks and whites students had different activities programs such as prom, student governments, and sports teams. This led to the case of Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. The law was named after Linda Brown who as denied entrance’s to Topeka’s white elementary school. This was a violation of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution which clearly states no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

    Other organization like the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) sent lawyers throughout the south to gather evidence to prove segregated schools were not equal. The NAACP main objective was to end inequality in schools which they hope can lead to segregation in America.

    Historian James Anderson mentions that many African faculty school members faced an enormous struggle on bringing equality education for black children. African American teachers were usually dismissed from the school system after Black principals were fired or demoted. Anderson says that “We may be achieving racial balance, we may be undoing the separate part of it, but we at the same time are exacerbating the unequal part of it.” – James Anderson

    School teacher and the soon to be President of the United States in the 1960s Lyndon B. Johnson believed in the equal chance of education meant an equal chance of life. Here are three main accomplishments from Lyndon B Johnson:

• Created a wide-ranging federal program
• Started low-cost college loans help low-income students
• Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (This plan was focused on defunding school that was still segregated).

Going back to the Chicano civil right activist Jose Angel Gutierrez from Crystal City helped organized massive student movements to create an educational program. This program consists of respected the lives as Mexicans Americans. To not only respect the Mexican students their native tongue but to push for more academic educational programs of Mexican Americans. Other laws like “Title IX” allowed women to participate in a sports team and not to be discriminated based on their gender. After the law was passed, the percentage of women joining sports teams grew significantly, especially in the 1990s.

There are no doubts there were numerous obstacles that students, activists, and parents faced improving public schools. The struggle continues to this current day.

1900-1950-As American as Public School.

In our reading of Chapter 2: 1900-1950-As American as Public School, it was the beginning of the different type of controversial issues such as nationalism, segregation, and standardized testing for many children attending public schools nationwide. Too many times we fall into the idea that the only way to completely be accepted into the public-school sector is to give up ones’ identity. History teaches us that having an extreme ideology as Nationalism and Patriotism can easily lead to Fascism. 

It also created segregation in different parts of the country making it harder for Black children and all people of color to enroll into public-school. Also, we must remember is that young adults as well were also excluded from attending public school all the way up to the university because of segregation.

Ruby Bridges being escorted out of school
 by federal marshalls

    This country was built on the back of slavery and immigrants physical hard work with hardly any pay at all. And because of this, many schools were created by these unfortunate individuals who really did not have any choice but to continue to struggle and fight to get a proper education.
    With the first wave of immigrants that came in the United States like the Germans, British and Scandinavia in the early 1900’s, these group of immigrants were (In the eyes of white Anglo-Saxons) the superior race. As decades past and more immigrants came to the states, the second wave of immigrants that came to the states was from Russians, Poles, Jews, and Italians. These new waves of immigrants Many White Anglo-Saxons thought of them as inferior because they were illiterate, criminals, and mentally challenged. In other words, they were incapable of becoming to be true Americans and cannot assimilate to civilization. This is an unfortunate situation that still plagues our society today in the 21st century.

"Square peg in a round hole" is an idiomatic expression which describes the unusual individualist who could
not fit into a niche of their society.

    

To be accepted to a good school, children had to take IQ tests to meet certain academic requirements. This test was found to be bias and discriminatory against immigrants that can hardly speak or read the language. This same test was soon to be the model of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). This practice is still a highly controversial issue, and, in my opinion, they should just remove it completely as it creates division within our students and community. 

American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey believed that we should not only focus on the traditional academic studies but to have children achieve their goals within their social lifestyle. John Dewey also believes that hands-on experience is how you will learn in any field of study.  This is how he achieved his fame for his philosophy of “learning by doing”

    In 1920 $1 billion dollars was spent on public schools nationwide and the percentage of teenager’s graduation was significantly high. Unfortunately, in the year 2018, there has been an enormous cut of educational programs, Pell grants, and the teacher’s salary. It seems the country is going backward, and now there are talks of budget cuts of over $200 Billion dollars. Instead of investing heavily in our education, WAR seems to be high in priority. Of course, this is a completely different topic that must be discussed some other day 😊