1997 Pledge Press highlights
From Richmond Times-Dispatch, 7 November 1997
Students taught guns aren't cool
Event gives a chance to learn difficult lessons the easy way
By Carrie Johnson, Times-Dispatch
Staff Writer
Tia Thomas, 13, huddled in her bed on Wednesday night, listening to
the crackle of gunfire explode near her Church Hill home.
The next morning, the soft-spoken eighth-grader stood before her classmates
at Onslow Minnis Middle School and told them about the dangers of handgun
violence.
"I would never use a gun," Tia said. "Anyone can get
shot, whether they're guilty or innocent."
Richmond Public Schools yesterday recognized the national Day of Concern
About Young People and Gun Violence, an event celebrated throughout the
country with presentations, peace marches and a pledge to never use a
gun to settle a dispute.
All 28,000 city students had an opportunity to sign the pledge, which
read, "I promise I will never carry a gun to school; I will never
use a gun to settle a dispute; and I will use my influence with my friends
to keep them from using guns to settle disputes."
The event resonated in Richmond, a city where the homicide rate continues
to increase. According to statistics provided by the Richmond Police Department,
106 guns were taken from youth 17 years of age and younger in 1996, and
64 have been seized this year as of Sept. 30.
Organizers said they hope the day provided a dose of preventive medicine
and taught children that guns arent cool.
At Onslow Minnis, students crowded into the auditorium to listen to
Byrl Phillips-Taylor, whose 17-year-old son was killed by a teen-ager
with a gun.
Scott Phillips, a senior at highland Springs High School, was shot five
times with an AK-47 and left in a wooded area in Charles City County on
July 26, 1989.
James Matthew Miller, an acquaintance of Phillips, was convicted of
first-degree murder in the slaying in 1990.
As Phillips-Taylor began to speak, the fidgeting stopped and the crowd
grew silent. She spoke in grisly detail about her sons murder, her strong,
clear voice wavering at times.
"I want you to think about this 17-year-old kid who loved life
and never thought anybody would hurt him," she said. "Think
about how he must have felt when he saw that AK-47 with a 50-round clip-
my child died in the woods by himself with nobody."
Phillips-Taylor collapsed into a chair after her speech, her cheeks
flushed and her eyes watery. Talking about her sons death is still difficult,
she said, but educating children about handguns has become her personal
mission. She said she wants all Virginia schools to recognize the day
of concern.
"This makes a difference," she said. "Those children
today signed a pledge. Don't tell me they're not going to think about
it."
Darice Arrington, 11, a sixth-grader at Onslow Minnis, signed her name
to the pale blue pledge sheet, then set her pencil down with satisfaction.
She, too, has heard gunfire near her home and said its about time the
violence stopped.
"Sometimes I'm scared to go outside at night," Darice said.
"When I hear shots, I hug my grandmother because I don't want anything
to happen to her."
Jerrell Tarry, a cherub-faced Onslow seventh-grader dressed in a gray
sweat suit, said he's fed up with guns. He hopes his essay on violence,
which he read for his classmates during the presentation, sends a message.
"If the police could take the guns off the street, not so many
kids wold get killed," Jerrell said. "Guns just make you a punk."
Students pledge to avoid violence
Second annual peace march attracts 400
By Jake Batsell, Seattle
Times staff reporter
More than 400 students, from kindergartners to high-school seniors,
this morning promised to forsake guns and avoid violence, at the second
annual Student Pledge for Peace march.
Representing some 26 Seattle-area schools, the students marched eight
blocks from Seattle's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park to the Urban
Peace park atop the Interstate 90 lid.
The days message, succinctly put by Chisom Sebastian, a second-grader
at Happy Medium School in Seattle, was to let kids know that "if
they don't kill, they can live a happy life."
The students carried colorful signs with simple messages: "Don't
hurt anybody." "Stick together."
Once arriving at Urban peace park, they chanted in unison: "Stop
the violence. Increase the peace." They also made a pledge to never
bring a gun to school, to never use a gun in a dispute, and to encourage
friends to do the same.
Some 32,000 elementary and high-school students across the state signed
a written pledge to that effect last year the number [is expected ] to
approach 47,000 this year.
Gun violence
Making a promise, keeping the peace
America's calendar is brimming with special observances: days, weeks
and months set aside to call attention to various issues and events. Its
hard to keep up with this commemorative flurry, and tempting to shrug
off such attempts to commandeer the calendar for a cause. But if you feel
inclined to shrug, please start tomorrow. Today happens to be the second
annual Day of National Concern about Young People and Gun Violence, and
its worth caring about.
This day isn't political though a bevy of civic groups and a unanimous
Senate support it. It isn't about gun control or the rights of gun owners.
It really isn't about public policy at all. Its a day for recognizing
the tragedy that looms whenever a child grabs thoughtlessly for a gun.
Too many children are grabbing, and dying: This country loses at least
10 kids under 20 to gunfire every day. Kids are bringing guns to school
and into the streets in astonishing numbers some because they're bullies,
some because they're terrified. The practice casts a pall over too many
young lives, and presents a quandary for the unarmed: If your classmates
are packing pistols, its hard to feel fully equipped with just a smile
and a pocket calculator.
There's got to be an alternative to an arms race among Americas teen-agers,
and the Day of Concern is a time for considering it. Conceived by Northfield,
Minn., activist Mary Lewis Grow, the observance is meant to help students
see, and avoid, the horror gun violence inflicts. Last year, communities
across the country used the day ingeniously: In Washington, D.C., the
city government called for a minute of silence in the districts schools
to remember young gunshot victims. In New York City, schools sponsored
essay and poetry contests and gathered students to hear grieving parents
describe what its like to lose a child to a bullet. In Chicago where 273
young people under 21 were murdered by firearms last year students in
most city schools listened to a radio talk show on gun violence.
This years observance is likely to be even more dramatic. Minneapolis
Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton has stirred up interest with a letter to fellow
mayors around the country, and Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey
III has urged his counterparts in other states to seize the chance as
well. In Minneapolis, St. Paul and many other communities, high-school
students are taking the lead this year, pressuring their peers to think
twice before misusing a gun. The upshot should be a truly nationwide consciousness-raising
session.
This year as last, the days culminating focus is a common pledge. Students
will be asked by teachers, principals and peers to promise that they'll
never bring a gun to school, that they'll never use a gun to settle a
dispute and that they'll try to keep their friends from misusing guns.
Of course there are some troubled kids who wont be willing to take that
leap: Nothing can change their conviction that guns confer coolness and
power. But many other adolescents, the careless, the fearful, those aching
to belong, can be persuaded otherwise. In the company of friends, they
might be willing to step away from gunplay and gun fear, and to inch toward
safety.
Its not too late to spread the pledge in your school, or to take it
to heart at home. Its hard to imagine a wiser way to use a day.
|
