Editorial: Education, awareness key in preventing further hate crime

Published March 11, 2008

There are few things we find more chilling than the recent murder of 15-year-old Lawrence King. But just being appalled is not enough.

King, who occasionally wore nail polish and women’s jewelry, appears to have been killed because he identified himself as gay. His killer, a 14-year-old classmate, identified himself as straight. At best, this is a big wake-up call to communities and schools nationwide. Clearly, LGBTQ hate crime is still a problem that requires a solution. And even though sexual orientation and gender identity are among some of the most hotly debated issues America, it’s doubtful that even the most conservative of parents want their child to come home from school one day a murderer.

But any resolution that might come from this will not be swift or easy in nature. Communities have to come together and have an open dialogue about how to prevent such atrocities from happening in their own little microcosm. The only real preventative action to be taken is education.

The shooter clearly somehow learned that the appropriate reaction to a classmate expressing their sexual or gender identity openly was to shoot them, and that is wrong. Students who are that young — both parties probably didn’t even shave yet — shape their beliefs almost entirely from those of their parents or teachers or whatever other role models they have. So it’s important for schools and communities to band together, initiate those uncomfortable dialogues about diversity and how to handle people who are different than the status quo and then keep having them. Otherwise, there can be no hope for change.

The hardest part of this is getting started. But if even one well-respected group or individual in a community made a visible concentrated effort toward awareness, it would go a long way toward encouraging open education and change in the rest of the neighborhood or city. That could be a church, a politician, a community center or anything else. Because no matter what opinions about the topic of homosexuality a person or organization harbors, it’s difficult to dispute that victimizing a group and engaging in violence against them is not a good thing. And if they do dispute that fact, then they are wrong — any personal beliefs must be shelved for the greater good if any will ever come of this.

But students, we can’t let this incident scare us from expressing any element of ourselves. Otherwise, ignorance wins. If you or someone you know is experiencing strife as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity, there are places and organizations in Columbia that can help. At MU, the LGBTQ Resource Center has an office in 216 Brady Commons. They also offer Safe Space training for anyone who wants to become involved. For high school students, there is PRISM, a gay-straight alliance specifically for youth between the ages of 13 and 19. PRISM holds meetings every Wednesday at 6:30 at Mizzou Hillel and also trains older students to go speak at area high schools. We encourage every student to turn tragedy into triumph by volunteering time at one of these organizations.