A Village of Awareness Saves Lives

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As noted in a number of articles that I have written as well as a book (franwhiteauthor.com) and countless blogs on the topic of bullies, fatalities have continued on an epidemic level due to the absence of knowledge, immediate actions and the assessment of anti-bullying programs.

I have described a prescription for this lethal epidemic of mass shootings by victims of bullies who are displacing their rage on others. An immediate dosage of KNOWLEDGE on the description of a bully, ACTION or a prepared plan to take place immediately after the tragedy and deaths and an ASSESSMENT of the program or intervention provided to measure it’s effectiveness to cure the epidemic. I frequently use the term, “Village” which describes the educational institution, the governmental organization, the geographic location and, most of all the unit of the family.

Knowledge on the definition, behavior  and identification of a bully is crucial. Action needs to take place immediately upon a shooting not weeks later with the assignment of competent clinical personnel to treat those effected by the tragedy. In an ideal world or village, competent clinical personnel should be assigned to schools to identify those future murderous individuals and victims of the bullies within the school or “village”. Lastly, programs and personnel need to be evaluated and assessed to determine the effectiveness of anti-bully interventions and the identification of dysfunctional students.

Upon my review of our current tragedy that just occurred at Santa Fe High School, Texas, ten deaths and ten wounded could have been prevented if that school and most others had “vaccinated” their village against this fatal epidemic of bullies and dysfunctional students with dosages of KNOWLEDGE, ACTION and ASSESSMENT.

As noted by the “red flags” that so few administrators, educators as well as students were knowledgable of ,the signs that contributed to that murderous day. The absence of knowledge on bullies and emotionally dysfunctional  students was quite evident in the statements of the governor of the state of Texas, Greg Abbott, in which he declared that” the suspect had offered few clues  that he would carry out a massacre of such scale.” He acknowledged that the suspect’s Facebook page did reveal his shirt which read, BORN TO KILL. Do note the photo that accompanies this article. The governor did say that the suspect had  shared information about the shooting on both his cell phone and on his computer. Due to the fact that this student did not have a criminal record, “these red flag signs were either nonexistent or impossible.” In addition to the absence of knowledge on bullying and emotionally dysfunctional students, government officials, the school administrators and students lack the ability to identify this murderer of ten, Dimitrios. It was reported that, due to the brutal bullying of Dimitrios’s younger sister, she had to transfer to another school. He was also a victim of bullying by not only his peers but by his football coaches who stated,” He stunk, smelled like cr_p.”

Other signs that were ignored in addition to the bullying that he and his sister had to endure, Dimitrios, as reported by his peers, wore his signature trench coat and military boots in spite of the heat and humidity of Texas. He did wear this attire, including his BORN TO KILL shirt on the day of the shooting. Observant and ignorant fellow students jokingly commented that he “looked just like the Columbine shooters!” While in Junior High School, Dimitrios was an honor student , dressing appropriately but, as noted, this decline in academic performance was not noticed nor addressed  by his teachers at the High School .Authorities reported that Dimitrios wrote on his online journals about his plans to attack the school and then turn his gun on himself.

This Texas “village”, indeed, lacked the ability to take the first step in preventing the deaths of innocent students and teachers. KNOWLEDGE  on the effects of bullying  and how it impacts upon dysfunctional students who displace their rage was not imparted to students nor adults. Upon further research, there appeared to be little  ACTION in developing any prevention programs and clinical personnel to diminish the disease of  “bullism” in response to the number of other fatal outbreaks that have occurred in the country. ASSESSING any programs or clinicians within this “village” is clearly non-existent since the first step or dosage had yet to be applied to prevent this epidemic of violence and death.

I do pray that my local school will never be the site of yet another tragedy which can, indeed, be prevented by our own “villages” in saving  the lives of our children using a vaccine of KNOWLEDGE, ACTION and ASSESSMENT.

The Sounds of Racism: Charlettsville, Va. The Lyrics: “You have to be Carefully Taught to hate and fear!”

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The sounds of Racism resounds in the image above and if we add lyrics to this depiction of rage and racism, the following words from the production, SOUTH PACIFIC, could  accompany the horrific concerto that was  heard :

You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught  as sung by Ensign Cable in his role as the conflicted lover of a young Polynesian girl in Rogers and Hammerstein’s  production of SOUTH PACIFIC;

“You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear. You’ve got to be taught from year to year.”

These very enraged people in the photo, members of the KKK and other supporters of racism have been carefully taught to hate and fear others of different races, facial features , religion  and sexual orientation. They are demonstrating a legacy passed on to them from their parents, grandparents, great grandparents and on and on in the family tree.

Racism cannot be eradicated by legislation nor the destruction of Confederate statues and monuments since these beliefs are so ingrained into the soul and collective unconscious of these racists. Only through their awareness of such destructive beliefs and the motivation ,on the part of the racist, can this cancerous, destructive and hateful legacy be finally destroyed. This is a daunting and, perhaps, an unrealistic expectation since racist are so conditioned to believe and follow the expectations of generations of their families who have rewarded their behavior with love and encouragement.

Perhaps, if some of those photographed racists would be aware of the destruction of lives impacted by their irrational behavior and subsequently take ownership of the death of that beautiful young woman in Virginia who was attempting to  peacefully change their generational  beliefs, their hate and fears. This quest to eradicate this embedded cancer of racism appears to be almost impossible since this evil has been with us since the beginning of time when human enslavement did accompany racist ideology and this identical evil  was exhibited in the concerto of rage orchestrated in Charlettesville, Virginia.

The cure for this social cancer is for each one of us to attempt to peacefully and cleverly teach, one racist at a time, one despicable  deed at a time, not to fear and hate. Yes, this is a monumental task to “unteach” generational ideology and  emotionally imbedded beliefs . We must first examine our own beliefs, words and actions that may reflect unconscious suggestions of racism inherited from our own family of origin. Next, we must target those in our social or professional circles and gently open the channels of awareness within these observed and identified racists. Change in behavior will never occur unless one is aware of that action or belief and is sincerely motivated to eradicate such offensive and destructive actions. The motivation to change that behavior which deeply offends you is dependent on the value that racist places on your friendship or professional association. Indeed, this is a daunting , overwhelming and highly time consuming task but street demonstrations and  protesting is risky and does not effectively change one racist at a time for a cumulative elimination of racism.

In my next blog, I will reveal my own actions to stem the violent, strong tides of racism and perhaps provide additional ideas to add to your arsenal in the war against racism. As my Blog is entitled, , I do want to know your feelings and reactions to thi and would appreciate hearing your voice. blog.franwhiteauthor.com