MIM Notes 188 June 15 1999

REPRESSIVE ANTI-YOUTH WAVE CRESTS AFTER LATEST HIGH SCHOOL 
SHOOTINGS

by MIM

Since the Littleton shootings at Columbine High School in which 
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 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, MIM 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. MIM's 
role is to lead youth to understand and articulate their disgust 
for society. MIM's 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, MIM 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. 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.



Notes:

1. New York Times. 28 May 1999, p. A23.

2. New York Times. 25 April 1999, Sec. 4, p. 1. and p. A27.

3. New York Times 10 May 1999, p.A. 16

4. CNN 25 May 1999.

5. New York Times 9 May 1999, Sec. 4, pp.1, 4 and p. A24.

6. New York Times 24 May 1999, p.A1 and A23.

7. New York Times 18 May 1999, p A12.

8. New York Times, 11 May 1999 p. A14.

9. New York Times 27 May 1999. Section A.

10. The New York Times, 4 May 1999 A 18.

11. Washington Post 27 April 1999. Washington Post-ABC News poll.