itorials

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Jews, Guns And Violence

Photo by B i ll Hansen

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Battling AIDS

Rabbi Marc Blumenthal, left, a former Detroiter, led the pro-
gram "The Community Responds to a Rabbi Living With
AIDS" on April 18 at Temple Kol Ami. He shared his story
while discussing the Jewish response to AIDS, what it's like los-
ing a friend to AIDS, and safe, responsible personal actions.
The Southfield-based Michigan Jewish AIDS Coalition spon-
sored the event.

Learning From Tragedy

A

pril 20 has
become a
modern day
of infamy.
Maybe it's time to
change it .
In recent years,
extremists have used
Adolf Hitler's birthday,
April 20, to espouse
their views or make
Columbine students comfort one anoth-
horrific "statements."
er
after placing flowers on the car of one
It is around this date
of
the
victims.
that the Waco and
Oklahoma City
used as a substitute for other
tragedies occurred, and April
initiatives that build bridges
20 was chosen by two
between peoples and individ-
teenagers in Littleton, Colo.,
uals. It should supplement
to wreak their sick havoc at
programs
of Jewish organiza-
Columbine High School.
tions
and
serve
as a follow-up
Isn't it time we took back
to
Martin
Luther
King Jr.'s
April 20?
Birthday,
the
legal
holiday
The date should be used as
held
on
the
third
Monday
in
an annual checkpoint for
January.
inter-group relations, for fam-
If done properly — at
ily discussions and school and
work,
at school and at home
workplace programs devoted
20 could become a
—
April
to diversity, to feelings and to
broadly
based
means to
checking our communal and
return
some
peace
and sta-
personal temperature on
bility
to
our
own
lives
and
human relations.
our
society.
April 20 should not be

Photo by the Associated Press/Eric Ga)

its effects. Computer games that turn mass mur-
der into a game with no consequences are abun-
dant; the airwaves are filled with lyrics celebrating
violence and unrestrained anger; teens watch
movies teaching the mechanics of bloody revenge
in their own living rooms. Parents just shrug
their shoulders.
The Jewish community is reluctant to dis-
cuss this spreading cultural poison, in part
because of aversion to the televangelists and
their political allies who are its most visible
critics, and in part because any kind of censor-
ship of words or ideas is anathema.
We note that Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-
Conn.), the only Orthodox Jew in the Senate,
has spoken out forcefully about the violence in
popular culture and held hearings on destruc-
tive computer games. He has received scant
support from Jewish groups. And Jews have
been reluctant to con-
front prominent mem-
bers of our own commu-
nity who have profited
handsomely from the
gun industry.
Jewish groups are
properly concerned about
restrictions on free
speech. But democracy is
just as challenged by this
culture of violence, fed
by profit-hungry media
companies that hide
behind our precious free-
speech protections as
they recklessly dissemi-
nate socially destructive
material.
The Jewish communi-
ty — with its unique
combination of bedrock
support for free speech
and civil liberties and
core values of abhorring
what we are in danger of
becoming — can play a
leadership role in a new
national debate about
this tragedy. That debate
must seek a sensible mid-
dle ground between the
demands for censorship
and religious compulsion
and the free-speech-no-
matter-the-cost approach
of some civil liberties
groups. The middle is
possible if our leaders
have the strength and
wisdom to be the light
unto all that our tradi-
A participant holds a sign during a memorial service held Sunday in
tion commands. I I
Littleton, Colo.

week after the terrible events in Lit-
tleton, Colo., answers remain
painfully elusive. Why did two
resentful students — one the grand-
son of an Ohio Jewish philanthropist — mas-
sacre classmates at Columbine High School?
How did they obtain their huge arsenal? Why
did parents and teachers fail to heed the warn-
ing signs?
Jewish organizations joined the outpouring
of sympathy for the families and the shocked
community. Some pointed out the obvious —
the relationship between the awesome firepow-
er available to mere children and increasingly
deadly school violence. Most who called for
stricter gun control are right, but new gun laws
alone will not restore safety to our schools.
Harder to quantify is the role of a popular cul-
ture that glorifies violence and numbs children to

IN FOCUS

4/30
1999

Detroit Jewish News

39