On April 16, I woke up to see and hear of the horror at VT. I am afraid it will happen again unless we as a nation consider it a serious problem rooted in our social and cultural structure and do something to address its root causes rather than trying to combat it by “policing it” as and when it occurs and then forgetting all about it the next day.

We are currently engaged in two foreign wars under the banner of “War on Terrorism,” wasting our precious emotional energy and national resources to win these wars thousands of miles away while we ignore the Oklahoma City, Columbine, and VT type of domestic terrorism.

Our government’s approach to these overseas wars on terrorism is similar to the approach to combat terrorism and other forms of violence here at home. Police work, disregarding the root causes of why people might resort to violence as a powerful reaction to their real or perceived powerlessness, like the young man at VT and the insurgents in the cities of Iraq and the streets of Baghdad.

This police work overseas is responsible for killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of innocent people; it has destroyed their communities and families, and brought upon them a bleak vision of their future, causing the death and destruction of thousands of our own troops and their families.

There is a close connection between the violence our nation inflicts on other societies, the death penalty our justice system inflicts on violent criminals and the violence here at home committed by disillusioned individuals.

Strong as this connection might be, it does not offer a sensible explanation of the homegrown violence.

Most discussion on the subject was met with sentiments of denial proclaiming that “[youth] violence is no longer a serious problem in America” against overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Adjunct Professor: Aqueil Ahmad - 04/26/07