THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608040044
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ELIZABETH SIMPSON
LENGTH: 60 lines
Thunderstorms. Growling dogs. Dark rooms without night lights.
Those are the things that children should fear.
These are the things they shouldn't have to worry about: Being hit in a drive-by shooting. Standing between their Mom and Dad when one pulls a gun. Sitting too near the window when there's a shootout in front of your house.
Yet this is the world we live in. These are true-life, real-kid instances that happen right here in our community:
Lakieshia C. Ballard, 10, shot in the neck while walking home from Camelot Elementary by a man who was trying to shoot his girlfriend. Chesapeake, December 1991.
Antonio Fisher Jr., 2, accidently shot in the head by a 16-year-old friend of his father's. Norfolk, January 1992.
Billy Weidrick III, 14 months old, shot in the arm by his father, who then shot and killed Billy's mother before turning the gun on himself. Virginia Beach, March 1992.
Taylor Ricks, 3, shot and killed while looking out her second-floor bedroom window. Norfolk, April 1996.
Blanca Garcia, 7, killed in the crossfire of feuding grownups. Portsmouth, July 1996.
In the aftermath, we wring our hands. We ask, ``How can this be?'' We beat our breasts at the senselessness of it all.
And then we go on, until the next Blanca or Taylor or Antonio dies. Until the next Billy loses his arm. Until the next Lakieshia has an experience that will mark her for life.
Do you realize that, in 1993, guns killed more children under 4 than police officers on duty? That the number of children shot to death nearly doubled during the past decade? That more than half of American 7- to 10-year-olds say they worry they might die young?
The other day a woman left a message on my voice mail, wondering what could be done about so many senseless deaths of children.
``It seems we cry about it,'' the woman said. ``We get upset about it, we listen to grandmothers moan, but what else is done? How can we stop the violence and the loss of children?''
I had no answer for her.
But her question has stayed with me. How can we stop it?
We can't legislate sanity. Nor force reason upon the unreasonable masses who think they can settle disagreements with guns. We can't eliminate evil in the world.
But we can do something.
We can make sure day care is more accessible to the poor, so children aren't left with teenagers or adults not up to the responsibility. We can work to find ways for women to get out of abusive relationships. We can make sure there are more safe places, more after-school activities, for children.
We can better educate people on parenting and relationship skills. We can put tighter controls on guns. We can create summer jobs for teenagers.
We can't do all of that overnight, but we can start. By protecting our own children, the ones on our block, our neighborhood, down the road, across town, until it spreads across communities and generations. One issue at a time, one vote at a time, one child at a time.
So that one day, children can go back to worrying about whether their night light is on, instead of whether they can dodge a bullet. by CNB