Vigil focuses on violence

Nearly 100 University students and community members gathered on the Diag last night for a candlelight vigil in memory of the four girls and one female teacher who were shot and killed last month by two boys outside their middle school in Jonesboro, Ark.

As Jonesboro residents and the nation try to understand the violence that occurred, community educators, activists and civil servants shifted the discussion last night from gun control to male violence against women - an issue they say the media has failed to address.

SARA STILLMAN/Daily Rackham student Clara Kawanishi holds a candle during yesterday's vigil on the Diag held to remember the five

By focusing the attention on gun control or gun education for children, the issue of violence against women has been ignored, said Lara Zador, an LSA sophomore who helped coordinate the event.

According to media reports, the motive for the killings involved rejections of affection by female schoolmates.

"This is a gender issue - it's not just kids killing kids," Zador said.

Sandy Norton, a professor of English at Eastern Michigan University, said she was shocked by the violence committed by the young boys, but she was also stunned at the media's coverage of the tragedy.

"It was clear to me that the person who had written the news report was completely unaware of what was completely clear to me," Norton said. "This was just another example of men gunning down women because they were not getting what they want."

Other community members were outraged at the boys' justification of their actions.

"The real horror of it seems to me is that somehow a 13-year-old boy got the idea that he had the right to the affections of a young girl, and that he had the right to use force to get it," said Edward Koster, an Ann Arbor attorney.

Women's studies associate Prof. Beth Hackett said that to explain what happened in Arkansas without connecting it to the epidemic of violence against women is condemning society to a future of brutality against women.

"It is indeed horrible to acknowledge that our little girls are being killed by our little boys," Hackett said. "But to not acknowledge it is even more horrible because that way we can't stop it."

Richard Halloran, a Wayne County Circuit Judge, said he first became aware of the need to educate men and boys about violence against women when his teenage daughter was punched by a boy. The boy's defense was that he wanted to prove his manhood in front of his friends.

"He wanted to prove he was a man by hitting a girl," said Halloran, who decided after this incident to work to involve more men in the fight to end domestic violence.

"I'm heartened that there are some men here tonight - there should be more, a lot more," Halloran said.

Jay Sennett, an author and community activist, echoed Halloran's message of male involvement in the struggle to end domestic violence by introducing the White Ribbon Campaign.

"Long seen as part of the problem, men can now be part of the solution," Sennett said. "Wearing a white ribbon reflects a man's personal pledge to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women."

LSA junior Preeti Rout said she attended the vigil to show her support for domestic violence education and to learn more about how the Jonesboro case demonstrated male violence against women.

"I think what happened has to do with gun control and other issues," Rout said. "But, it is true that the aspect that this is violence against women has been ignored."

University alumnus Kari Tervo agreed, saying that she hopes this tragedy will serve to educate society about the issue.

"I think that there's more insidious and unseen acts of violence against women and girls every day," Tervo said. "It's tragic that this had to happen, but it might help to call attention to the so-called minor acts of harassment that happen to teenage girls every day."

Sarah Kremsner, an Americorps volunteer at the Student Advocacy Center of Michigan that provides underprivileged public school students free non-legal advocacy, said that adults are ultimately responsible for the acts of children. She said it is society's obligation to educate and protect children from violence.

04-08-98