Community/Pop

How do you feel about recent school shootings?

Interviews by Mario Clarke & Louis Ward
Photographs by Christina Camacho

The officials have talked a lot about the incidents, but we wanted to know what people in the neighborhood thought of the recent school shootings. Here are a few of their opinions:

---

Name: L Thomas Jr.

Age: 32

Residence: West Village

Occupation: Musician

How do you think the shootings in the suburbs will affect the way authority figures react to students in city schools? "Most kids that carry guns know how to hide it. Teachers are easily fooled because I myself carried a gun in the '80s when I was in school. Most teachers are not going to look at the students in the suburbs."

Why does the media portray minorities as dangerous when the killings are being done by white kids? "The media markets itself. There's one race, and that's the human one. Different people need different things and everyone has to judge for themselves."

Who's responsible? "Everyone's responsible. You can't blame one source. Kids are emulating what they see on television. The reason why it gets media hype is because it's someone that's white. Anyone of any ethnicity can copy each other."

If you were in charge of a school, how would you go about making it safer for the students? "Throw out all those n------ that don't want to learn or get a job. I would then separate those who want to learn. No, I would not lower school standards; they are already too low as it is."

Name: Henry

Age: Unknown

Residence: Manhattan

Occupation: Student

What was your first reaction to what happened in California? "This was a devastating tragedy. I like the way it was handled by officials."

Why do things like this occur in the suburbs rather than in the inner cities? "I was raised up in the suburbs and it's no different. The media is just playing it up. Besides it does not happen in only the suburbs. It was just those individuals."

Would stricter gun laws prevent an incident like this from happening again? "Not at all. People shoot guns; guns don't shoot people."

How do school shootings in suburbs affect the way authority figures react to students in the city? "They don't, because that's in the suburbs and there's something wrong with those people."

Why does the media portray minority youth as violent when the shootings are occuring in the suburbs? "We are black and Latino and we live in the poorest neighborhoods, so we are easy targets."

Who's responsible? "Problems at home—and maybe there is something wrong with that person."

If you were in charge of a school, how would you go about keeping the students safe? "Metal detectors and making sure kids have no guns and knifes."

Name: Antoine

Age: 14

Residence: Manhattan

Occupation: student

How do you think the shootings in the suburbs will affect the way authority figures react to students in city schools? "I don't know."

Why do you think the media portrays the minorities youth as the more violent ones when in fact it's the white kids doing the school shootings? "Because it's mostly the African Americans and Hispanics in the gangs, and not the Caucasian gangs. So they figure we shoot up schools, so they have cops put in our schools. However, in Beverly Hills they don't suspect such acts. They really don't think. They think it's safe."

Who do you feel is responsible? "I feel it's the parents, students and people manufacturing the guns who are responsible."

If you were in charge of a school how would you go about protecting your students? "Metal detectors."

Name: Officer Mulnard; 23rd precinct

Age: 25

Residence: Spanish Harlem

Occupation: Policeman

How do you think the shootings in the suburbs will affect the way authority figures react to students in city schools? "Everyone will be looking at them more."

Why do you think the media portrays the minority youth as the more violent ones when in fact it's the white kids doing the school shootings?" "It's the politicans; they're just going by statistics. Other than that I don't know."

Who do you feel is responsible? "The parents are totally to blame. They are to be held accountable for their children's actions."

If you were in charge of a school, how would you go about protecting your students? "I would install metal detectors. It's for your safety, thus it justifies your right of privacy being ingnored. Fourteen-year-olds are shooting classmates, therefore if you've got nothing, then you've nothing to worry about.

• Link to read an opinion on the school shooting