It’s time. I need to start a blog. Reach out to a bigger community.
On April 20th, 1999, at Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 classmates and a teacher, before killing themselves. They wounded 23 others. I, like so many Americans, was shocked and deeply disturbed watching the media coverage that horrible day. I felt I had to do something. So, I left New York City and flew out to Littleton, Colorado to talk to members of the community. I needed to know why this had happened. Over the span of a year, I made seven trips, and I spoke with more than 60 people, including injured students, a young woman who was friends with both the killers and one of the victims, the parents of the only black student who was murdered, police officers, the pastor at the scene, teachers, and reporters.
I titled my play, “A Line in the Sand” because I felt that, back in 1999, Columbine had finally gotten our attention about gun violence in America. A line in the sand had been drawn. Surely, Congress and the President would insist on sensible gun laws, close the gun show loophole on a federal level, and not allow the assault weapons ban to expire. Surely, we would stop the madness and prevent more senseless deaths. We would protect our children.
We are just a few days from the 10th anniversary of Columbine. 10 years and more than 60 school shootings later, my question is: Have we learned anything? I am sad to say I don’t think we have. We stepped right over the line in the sand. Bulldozed over it. This has become national crisis. And most of us, including Congress, look the other way. They have more urgent crises to deal with, and they are afraid of the NRA.
In his excellent article in the New York Times yesterday, Bob Herbert wrote, “Since Sept. 11, 2001 nearly 120,000 Americans have been killed in non-terror homicides, most of them committed with guns. That’s nearly 25 times the number of Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the most part we pay no attention to this relentless carnage. So what if eight kids are shot to death every day in America. So what if someone is killed by a gun every 17 minutes.”
To end on a more positive note, I think the most important question we can now ask is, “What are we going to do, together, for all the children in this country?”
For my part, I will continue to perform my play in high schools, with the goals of stimulating dialogue, creating awareness, and preventing future school violence.
Since 1999, I have become a mother. Twice. I have two beautiful daughters, Emma and Madeleine, 3 years and 11 months, respectively. It is more important than ever to me that they grow up in a safer, less violent society, and that when they reach the age to attend college, their classmates and teachers won’t be allowed to bring concealed guns on campus for self-defense.
Tomorrow, April 16, I am participating in a “lie-in” protest in Times Square to mark the second anniversary of the Virginia Tech massacre. 32 people from around the New York area will lie down on the ground for three minutes in silence, the amount of time it took for the Virginia Tech shooter to purchase his gun.
What are you going to do?
I look forward to hearing from you.
To learn more about “A Line in the Sand”, please visit my website:
Note:
Tomorrow’s lie-in protest is being organized by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Protest Easy Guns, and Million Mom March NY.
No comments:
Post a Comment