Facing up to violence in America

In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, America needs a day of mourning and reflection.

from the April 18, 2007 edition

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Second, why are most of these gunmen also white? (Yes, reports indicate the Virginia Tech gunman was Asian; but almost every other mass shooter has been white.) Black and Latino boys commit plenty of violence in school, of course, but they're more likely to assault an individual whom they know. White shooters more often kill en masse and randomly: They're aiming for high body counts, not for a particular target. Why?

Third, why do so many American men – and, increasingly, many American women – own guns? Between 40 percent and 50 percent of American households own a gun, one of the highest percentages in the Western world. We can and should debate the best ways to regulate guns, but we simply cannot deny their prevalence in our society. And even though Virginia Tech was nominally a "gun-free zone," the shooter had no trouble bringing weapons there. Why do so many Americans own guns? Which Americans choose to purchase them? And how do guns influence the nature of violence in America?

Fourth, what messages do our various mass media transmit about men, women, and violence? In the recent imbroglio over racist comments by Don Imus, many commentators observed – correctly – that similarly bigoted language suffuses America's mainstream media. But US airwaves are saturated with violence, too, ranging from shoot'em-up movies to rape and torture. And most of this on-screen violence is committed by men, as well. I'm not saying that the mass media cause violent behavior, because we can't be sure of that. But these images do make violence more "normal" and acceptable in US society. And that can't be a good thing.

Last, and most important, what can we do to change? How, as a nation, can we become less violent? Is it even possible?

I'd like to say it is, because I believe deeply in our nation's potential for renewal and transformation. But in darker moments, I'm not so sure.

And, surely, the Virginia Tech massacre is one of the darkest moments of all. That's precisely why we need to shed light, right now, upon the larger patterns of violence that surround us. We must transcend the particulars of this awful event so that we can see it in its wider national context. And we must not look away.

So I propose this Thursday, April 19, as National Day of Mourning and Reflection on Violence in America. That day marks the 12th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, where 168 innocents lost their lives to a homegrown American fanatic. As I said, we've been here before. And none of us should rest until we're all shocked by it.

• Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author of "Innocents Abroad: American Teachers in the American Century."

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