Under Lock and Key RAIL Radio Program for June 4, 1999

After high school shootings, adults start to crack down on youth 

Since the Littleton shootings at Columbine High School in which
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris kille 13 and then committed
suicide, hundreds of students have reported unfair suspensions,
expulsions or arrests to the ACLU. As Amerika scrambles to explain
this shooting, students are facing increased police presence;
surveillance cameras; policies mandating clear backpacks; banning
of trench coats in schools and broader anti-youth controls.

Like the so-called anti-terrorist hoopla following the Oklahoma
City bombing, the Littleton aftermath stinks of law and order
rhetoric. Amerika's feel-good dialogues under the pretense of
exploring social problems are merely tools to build public opinion
for the continuation of Amerika's anti-crime fervor.

Just as oppressed national adults are disproportionately targeted
by Amerikan police and courts, oppressed nation youth will face
the increased wrath of Amerikan adults. At the end of the 1980s,
the incarceration rate for Latino youth was more than double the
overall youth incarceration rate; incarceration of Black youth was
more than quadruple the overall rate. In the most recent
publicized account of New York Police Department (NYPD) brutality
against oppressed nation youth, three NYPD officers chased,
accosted and shot the unarmed 16 year old Dane Johnson. Following
the shooting, NYPD Police Commissioner Howard Safir said, "You
have to wonder why they're running [from a police officer], why
they're out at 12:30 at night."(1) Let this be a warning to anyone
who still thinks Amerika is a "free country" - if you're out past
midnight, the NYPD pigs think you're a legitimate target.

Safir has also argued that disproportionate stops and searches are
not because of "race, but because they represented 'the
demographics of known violent crime suspects'."(2) This defense of
racial profiling ignores the fact that oppressed nationals are
arrested more than whites for the same or lesser offenses,
convicted more once arrested, and sentenced more harshly once
convicted. Racial profiling is supported by injustices in the
court and prison systems, not by actual number or severity of
crimes committed.

Increased social controls against youth should serve as a blasting
alarm clock for white nation youth. White youth share in their
nation's stolen wealth, but because they have not moved into their
professional roles in the imperialist economy, they may be able to
see through the veil of privilege to the possibility of a less
violent society. Their parents are pushing the world toward
environmental destruction through increasing militarization.
Amerika's skyrocketing prison expansion comes at the expense of
education.

With a future of increased anti-youth controls, RAIL expects
growing numbers of youth to rebel. We encourage the youth to learn
scientific analysis of the world. We do not condone stockpiling
weapons or making plans to bring the high-school angst movie
Heathers to life. But we understand that youth are going to look
around and see that Amerika is thoroughly messed up.

The u.$. Secretary of Education said "this alienation of young
people where they become 'loners' is troubling in this complex
society we live in. There's no reason for any child to feel alone
or to feel alienated."(3) But being happy in this country is an
impossibility as it requires tuning out the suffering of the
world's people. The youth must study history, understand
materialism and organize for anti-imperialist revolution. RAIL's
role is to lead youth to understand and articulate their disgust
for society. Our strategy toward revolution involves building
public opinion against oppression and constructing independent
institutions meeting the needs of the oppressed; there are
important contributions for the youth to make in this effort.

Over-dramatized hype

Investigators say that Klebold and Harris planned to kill at least
500 students and teachers, attack the surrounding neighborhoods
and then hijack a plane and crash it into New York City. After a
month of hype, a CNN pole claimed that 74% of Amerikans believed
that something similar to Columbine could be possible in their
community.(4)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the
primary cause of death for youth in Amerika is labeled as
accidental (42%). Homicide is the second leading cause of death
for Amerikan youth and children (14%). But fewer than 1% of
homicides against youth "occur in or around schools."(5)

The most dangerous threat to youth is the oppression imperialism
is spreading around the world. Secondly, several hundred youth and
children are killed by their mothers alone each year. We assume
the classification of 'accidental death' includes hidden homicides
by parents and other adult caregivers. Lessening the prospects of
nuclear holocaust by relieving the imperialists of their armies,
instituting socialized childcare and otherwise weakening the
patriarchal family will go a long way toward making young people
safe. Imperialism is going in the opposite direction. The
Louisiana Senate just passed measures that require elementary
school youth to respond to adults by using "Yes Ma'am" and "Yes,
Sir."(6)

New hysteria increases repression

In Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Nevada, Washington, DC and
throughout the country youth were searched, several schools
temporarily closed after rumors of copycat plans and alleged 'hit
lists'. 23 schools in Port Huron Michigan were closed three weeks
after the Littleton bombing because of a suspected copy cat plan.
Four youth were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit
murder, the two 14-year-olds were charged as adults.(7) Five 8th
graders in Texas were arrested after other students claimed they
had heard a discussion of plans by the youth to copy Littleton.
Dozens of similar accounts have been reported throughout the u.$.

May 24th, a 13 year old boy in Newark was arrested and charged
with aggravated assault, making terroristic threats and weapons
possession after pointing a toy gun at another student. The
students of the school were rounded up and stored in the cafeteria
for three hours while the school was searched after the
incident.(2)

In Canton, Georgia a 15 year old youth was recently convicted of
killing a younger boy in November 1998. The lawyers argue the
youth did not get a fair trial because it followed on the heals of
the Littleton shooting. Lawyers argues this affected the verdict -
- life sentence.(5) This case shows that hyped up fear and
irrational adult reaction only hurt youth. A life sentence given
to a 15 year old concedes that Amerika believes violence is an
inherent characteristic and that its prison system does nothing to
rehabilitate. Adults who cannot develop a system that will allow a
15-year-old the hope of a life out of prison have no business
attempting to regulate children's behavior.

Who to blame?

Amerikan adults, politicians and others recently participated in a
"Youth Violence Summit." Planners were aiming for 'a therapeutic
definition of violence as a public health problem..." Adults
putting a nice face on patriarchy agree on several measures which
further criminalize youth and oppressed nationals. Included in
measures to increase state control:  raising the age for handgun
ownership to 21;  requiring background checks of gun buyers at gun
shows; banning youth convicted of violent felonies from ever
owning a gun; and expanding gun-tracing programs of the
government.(8)

In part of this wave of expanding repression adults in Cicero,
Illinois are attempting to legally evict so-called gang members
from their town. Members of the Almighty Latin King and Queen
Nation, Sin City Boys, the Latin Angels are some of the groups
under fire from Cicero.(9) Although we don't know much about the
others, the ALKQN is a group engaging in serious political
organizing that threatens the imperialist system. Anti-gang laws
are being used to shut down this political organizing.

Even if these anti-gang laws were only aimed at groups committing
acts of violence for the sake of power and wealth, RAIL would not
support giving the biggest gang in the u.s. -- the police, backed
by the biggest gang in the world, the u.s. imperialist military --
any more power.

In addition to going after anyone on the streets who looks
threatening, many cities are also going after gun manufacturers.
On April 26, 1999, the City of Detroit filed a lawsuit against 30
gun manufactures for "the havoc wreaked on the city."(9) Similar
suits are taking place in Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, New
Orleans, Bridgeport and a Federal jury found nine gun makers
liable for shootings in New York in February.(9) At the end of
May, several cities around Los Angeles and San Francisco are
scheduled to file lawsuits against gun manufacturers as well.

Related to the attacks on gun manufacturers, Clinton's gun-control
proposal includes a measure to charge parents with a felony if
"their children commit crimes with guns."(9) Libertarian lawyer
Geoffrey Fieger is representing the parents of Isaiah Shoels,
killed at Columbine, in a law suit against the parents of the
shooters. Fieger claims he may go on to sue the Public School
system of Jefferson County for negligence because they ignored a
racist death threat from the so-called Trench Coat Mafia.(8)

The staged search for underlying causes of violence ring hollow in
the context of Amerika's blatant violence throughout the world and
against the oppressed within the u.$.

At similar finger pointing meetings, child psychologists and
development 'experts' claimed that the first three years of a
child's life are most important to ensure that they will not feel
alienated later on in life.(10) While early environmental factors
influence humans, this approach presumes that humans cannot change
and become productive through learning science and understanding
history. It is no wonder that Amerika is increasing its life
prison sentences for youth as young as 14 years old.

Washington Post-ABC News poll stated that 40% of students polled
"know students troubled enough to be potential killers."(11) In a
country that is responsible for the deaths of around 6000 children
each month in Iraq alone, this could mean that these 40% know
peers who will grow up to get jobs in the military or the U.N.
Amerika is engaged in a violent war against the people of
Yugoslavia and maintains less direct methods of destruction
elsewhere. 

Despite the passage of months after the Columbine High School shooting, 
people are still pointing fingers at the entertainment industry as the source
of all evil in the u.s. A National Public Radio profile on
industrial bands featured music that ranged from nihilist to
anarchist and anti-fascist implying that the driving beat and
anti-religious messages might be causing violence among young
listeners.

The Warner Brothers network canceled two episodes of its popular show Buffy the
Vampire Slayer because they depicted violence in a high school.
Internet blocking programs have seen a sharp increase in attention
and public support. And even at the highest levels of government,
legislation is being proposed to enforce tighter restrictions on
the culture Amerikan youth can access.

Some argue against this censorship of culture by saying that youth
opening fire in schools have something fundamentally wrong with
them from the start. However, the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
recognizes the strong influence
of culture and society on youth. Similarly, we do not see that
humans have inherent traits, but that they are molded by their
surroundings. That's why we do advocate abolishing reactionary
cultural as we build a socialist society without Amerika's current
predatory and violent relations.

But we do not advocate giving imperialist and patriarchal
governments greater control to censor pieces of culture that it
finds offensive or dangerous. Such expanded control means greater
censorship limits access to information which counters bourgeois
media bombardment. The u.$. government may tweak levels of
violence in mainstream movies and TV but it will use this power to
repress communist, anarchist and other anti-imperialist and anti-
militarist views.

If we want to look at the cultural causes of violence among white
suburban youth (which is what grabs media attention) we should
examine the televising of the bombings of Iraq and Yugoslavia.
Here is a graphic display of violent military attacks on unarmed
people being hyped daily in the news. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
portrays students fighting evil to reduce violence perpetuated
against humanity; meanwhile, the u.s. military is televised in
full glory promoting violence and killings against the majority of
the world's people.

Those who claim that some youth will not be able to distinguish
between Buffy using violence against evil and the use of violence
in a high school just for the sake of killing people are insulting
the youth of today and giving too much credit to one TV show. The
pervasive capitalist culture of killing and exploitation for
profit has a strong influence on us all from birth. Until
capitalism has been eliminated we can not hope to win the battle
against this culture.

Recognizing that under capitalism it is possible to create
alternative culture that will influence people and help with the
anti-imperialist struggle, we do encourage people to use their
skills to this end. If you are a musician, write revolutionary
music, if you are an artist, create revolutionary art, if you are
a writer, write revolutionary books and poetry, we encourage
everyone to contribute by reviewing both revolutionary and
reactionary culture for our publications and this radio program.

Violence within u.$. borders is nothing but the
chickens coming home to roost as Malcolm X said of violent
imperialist society. The violence of Amerikan imperialist society
will continue to grow as imperialism grows. Amerika breeds hatred
to justify its economic, military and political hegemony. It is
dialectical that Amerika gets stung by its breeding ground every
once in a while. Similarly, as Amerika spreads more repression,
resistance will develop.