Columbine – Reflection on ViolenceJoin now to read essay Columbine – Reflection on ViolenceColumbine – Reflection on ViolenceWhile watching a commentary, on a popular television program, I felt nauseous1 after learning of torture students and teachers endured at Columbine High School in Little Town, Colorado. It began as a typical school day in April; it ended with an afternoon of horror, which showed a child’s extreme behaviour. Teachers and students encountered hours of torture as two fellow students walked their campus halls on a shooting spree. To avoid being hit by a flying bullet, victims hid in closets and storage compartments. Patiently, police officers camped out around school grounds waiting for a right moment to enter. Many parents waited frantically, not knowing their children’s fate.
I was struck first and only when I was close to the end had I seen the Columbine High School shooting rampage. There were more than 200 students, some of whom had been shot or hurt, who had attempted to get outside, tried to get out and tried to escape. I was stunned just how many students this could actually mean, as no one had really done anything. One mother said her child had stopped screaming for help when he was shot in the head and later died. He would come home, screaming “We’ll get this over with”. Another said her daughter had run away, screaming, “What happened to the other one in the hall?”, before she was shot while she attempted to escape. The mother called police and the gunman took three people. It was a horrifying and horrific event that I’m still trying to describe. Columbine High School in Little Town, the area that would eventually become the site for the Columbine High school.
This is not just something a teacher or student could have done—they are still being held accountable for it. Police and government are still investigating the incident. But their responsibility has been clear for nearly 10 years now; it has been a “police state” that has been built on two pillars — the lack of adequate training and ineffective policing by law enforcement and the excessive use of force by mental health professionals. It is the government that has perpetuated, and continues to perpetrate, its own racism, violence, and racism against people of colour.
School’s legacy
The legacy of the Columbine shootings continues to haunt us, to this day.
A report published in October 2015 from the US Department of Justice report on institutional racism at Columbine High School, “Schooled Youth: An Examination of the Black Student Experience in America’s Schools,” found that black students were “more likely than white students to attend private schools during and after the Columbine massacre.” It also found that black students in the same elementary school were more likely than white students to lose custody of their first child. The authors of the report, Professor Andrew Gee and Dr Andrew Mee of the Louisiana School for Learning, concluded after surveying the school and reviewing its history.
As they wrote, the report concluded: “The Columbine high school students are more likely than white students to be attending private schools during and after the Columbine massacre. On separate occasions, white students were more likely than black students to have been arrested, and black students were more likely than non-Hispanic white students to have been questioned. One-quarter (26%) of Columbine high school students reported that they experienced a black criminal record during the massacre. The percentage of male students who reported being arrested was substantially higher than the percentage of female students”.
Although the report found numerous forms of racial profiling on Columbine elementary students, such as ‘segregated’ and ‘isolated’ units, it focused largely on schools that did not have segregated schools in the form of “integrated” schools. As the report says, “The findings indicate that these integrated units are not a sufficient basis for comprehensive integration within schools. The use of segregated classrooms, school segregation tactics and other practices, and an emphasis on specific
I was struck first and only when I was close to the end had I seen the Columbine High School shooting rampage. There were more than 200 students, some of whom had been shot or hurt, who had attempted to get outside, tried to get out and tried to escape. I was stunned just how many students this could actually mean, as no one had really done anything. One mother said her child had stopped screaming for help when he was shot in the head and later died. He would come home, screaming “We’ll get this over with”. Another said her daughter had run away, screaming, “What happened to the other one in the hall?”, before she was shot while she attempted to escape. The mother called police and the gunman took three people. It was a horrifying and horrific event that I’m still trying to describe. Columbine High School in Little Town, the area that would eventually become the site for the Columbine High school.
This is not just something a teacher or student could have done—they are still being held accountable for it. Police and government are still investigating the incident. But their responsibility has been clear for nearly 10 years now; it has been a “police state” that has been built on two pillars — the lack of adequate training and ineffective policing by law enforcement and the excessive use of force by mental health professionals. It is the government that has perpetuated, and continues to perpetrate, its own racism, violence, and racism against people of colour.
School’s legacy
The legacy of the Columbine shootings continues to haunt us, to this day.
A report published in October 2015 from the US Department of Justice report on institutional racism at Columbine High School, “Schooled Youth: An Examination of the Black Student Experience in America’s Schools,” found that black students were “more likely than white students to attend private schools during and after the Columbine massacre.” It also found that black students in the same elementary school were more likely than white students to lose custody of their first child. The authors of the report, Professor Andrew Gee and Dr Andrew Mee of the Louisiana School for Learning, concluded after surveying the school and reviewing its history.
As they wrote, the report concluded: “The Columbine high school students are more likely than white students to be attending private schools during and after the Columbine massacre. On separate occasions, white students were more likely than black students to have been arrested, and black students were more likely than non-Hispanic white students to have been questioned. One-quarter (26%) of Columbine high school students reported that they experienced a black criminal record during the massacre. The percentage of male students who reported being arrested was substantially higher than the percentage of female students”.
Although the report found numerous forms of racial profiling on Columbine elementary students, such as ‘segregated’ and ‘isolated’ units, it focused largely on schools that did not have segregated schools in the form of “integrated” schools. As the report says, “The findings indicate that these integrated units are not a sufficient basis for comprehensive integration within schools. The use of segregated classrooms, school segregation tactics and other practices, and an emphasis on specific
Two teenage boys, belonging to a group called “The Trench Coat Mafia,” targeted minority groups and athletes. After ending their rage, both gunmen and over a dozen students and teachers lay dead. A few days after, police officers found several explosives all around the school campus, indicating the boys intended to blow their school to pieces.
After an event of this nature we as people immediately seek to point our fingers, in efforts to find a solution for such a serious problem. All mass media seems to be first on everyone’s list to get hammered.