Staff Editorial: No place for hate on any school campus

The tragic shooting of 8th grader Lawrence King at E.O Green Junior High in Oxnard is a reminder of how, despite school districts and schools’ attempts across the country to address diversity and acceptance, prejudice still is very prevalent in our schools.

Fourteen-year-old Brandon David McInerney walked into King’s first period English class and shot him in front of two dozen other students. McInerney was later taken into custody by police; prosecutors are seeking to try him as an adult. He is looking at a minimum of twenty-five years in prison with another 25-year firearms enhancement and a one to three year addition for a hate crime.

However this crime was not racially, religiously, or gang motivated. It is suspected that King was shot because he was openly gay and wore feminine clothing. This is the result of the prejudice and hatred that our society casually permits to exist towards the gay community. While the Santa Barbara School District clearly states that it will not tolerate put downs or slurs towards gays, lesbians, trans-gender, or bisexual students, derogatory remarks and chuckling is still heard in the hallways and classrooms at SBHS.

A banner was recently hung in the main hall with a quote from Dorothy Parker Love, “Heterosexuality is not normal it’s just common.” It was part of a campaign by Dons for Change as part of Diversity Month to help inspire students to be tolerant. A few days after the banner was put up it was torn down by a group of students.

Members of the religious right have perverted the Bible to justify banning of same sex marriages, gay adoption, and bigoted violence and hate. While this might not be what motivated these students to do this it certainly shows that some of our religious and political leaders who claim to be role models are putting kids on a potentially lethal path.

For our parents’ generation it was the struggle for civil rights. People in Citizen Councils and other white supremacist groups across the country (including in Santa Barbara) were as open about hating people based on the color of their skin as people openly are to gays today.

As a part of diversity month The Forge would like to remind students to take heed of the school shooting in Oxnard, that our words can have very real repercussions.

The kind of blind hate that drove the junior high school student to walk into a class and shoot a schoolmate is an indicator that hatred and prejudice is still keeping many people from the American Dream of life, love, and the pursuit of happiness.