THE BEHREND BEACON Perpetrators of public violence challenge U.S. by Josh Getlin Los Angeles Times NEW YORK -- A church. A high school. A daycare center. A hospi tal. A stock brokerage office. If there is any thread linking the re cent wave of mass shootings in America, it is that they have all taken place in public spaces, areas long thought to he immune from the violence that typically erupts be hind closed doors, or at least Out of public view. The most recent horror, this week's shooting of seven people at a Baptist prayer service for teenag ers in Fort Worth, Texas, illumi nated once again the dark side of a culture that has spawned such vio lations of public space. Ideally, the common areas in which Americans come and go are the physical em bodiment of an open society. But the sense of security which millions take for granted has been compro mised by a wave of senseless shootings, one more horrific than the next. It's become a hideous intru- sion, a violation of the most funda mental guarantee we have in a de mocracy,- said Jean Bethke Elshtain, a professor of Ethics at the University of Chicago's Divinity School. "You think you've heard the worst possible story and then another shooting happens. Finally, all you can do is shake your head and ask yourself: Why?'' The level of public violence seen today has been relatively rare in American history. according to historians. While there were bomb ings of black churches during the civil rights years, those attacks had a clearly defined political agenda, said Melissa Greene, who wrote a book about the 1958 bombing of an Atlanta synagogue. "They weren't prompted by the blind rage you see today, when you don't know why Bradley, Gore virtually even in New Hampshire polling by Dan Balz The Washingain Post CONCORD, N.ll -- Five months be fore the nation's first primary, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley has vir tually pulled even with Al Gore in New Hampshire, turning a once lop sided advantage for the Vice President into a fiercely competitive contest. Three recent polls confirm how much gloomier things are for Gore today, with Bradley closing to within 4 to 7 percentage points of the front runner. What has happened in New Hampshire is. in microcosm. the story of how the former basketball star has turned the competition for the Demo cratic nomination into a fight to the finish. When the presidential campaign began last winter, Gore seemed to have most of the advantages here. He had the power of incumbency and the support of a president who, however controversial, was popular among Democratic activists and had an ex tensive network already in place here. Gore's New Democrat credentials, meanwhile, offered him the opportu nity to hid for support of the "New Economy voters" and political inde pendents, who often play a crucial role in this idiosyncratic state. But over time those seeming ad vantages have been eroded, as Gore has struggled to capitalize on the in stitutional Democratic Party support available to him, while Bradley has had success reaching directly to rank and-file Democrats and especially to independents. Much can change between now and February, but this is not the cam paign the Vice President had hoped for. "They wanted a coronation rather than a tight," Andrew E. Smith, Di rector of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said of the Gore campaign. "Now they've got a WORLD AND NATION people are crazy." Struggling to make sense of this phenomenon, historians, religious leaders and social scientists offer lay ers of explanation. Some talk of a generalized war between the forces of "community" and isolation, while others focus on a highly marginalized group of outcasts, many of them white American males who are utterly estranged from main stream society and loathe most sym bols of modern-day authority. Some observers sufiyest that the desecration of public spaces is a problem that goes beyond a lunatic fringe and highlights a declining sense of civility in the broadest sense of the word. It begins, they say, with routine, daily transgressions, like rudeness in a movie theater, and culminate at the highest levels of government. with presidential pec cadillos in the Oval Office a prime example. Whatever the root cause, how ever. the bottom line is that no gov ernment on earth can stop a random act of public violence if it's carried Out by an obsessed criminal, said Robert Castelli. professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York. "Decent people are shocked by these attacks, - he added. "But the best we can do is find the true reasons for them and then try 10 protect our public spaces as hest v, e can It's not the first time America has been shattered by such savagery. On the morning after the Fort Worth massacre, the University of Texas at Austin finally reopened the campus Tower from which gunman Charles Whitman methodically killed 14 people in August, 1966. Yet Whitman's rampage was an isolated, freakish event at the time, and a far cry from the numbingly familiar acts of rage that explode with disturbing regularity today. For Richard Rodriguez, a San A Bradley victory in New Hamp shire would severely wound the Vice President and set up crucial contests a month later in New York, where a new poll to he released Sunday shows a dead-even race, and in California, where Gore enjoys a larger lead. Even if Gore survives, his supporters fear he would be weakened in the general elec- If there is any silver lining in all this for the Vice President, it may he that the element of surprise has been eliminated from Bradley's strategy here. The former New Jersey senator, running an insurgent's campaign, will not be able to sneak up on Gore in the final week of the New Hampshire con test, as Gary Hart did against Walter F. Mondale in 1984. That also means more scrutiny of Bradley from voters and the news media -- both on what he says he would do as president and on his record in the Senate. But that may be the only good news the Vice President and his campaign team can draw from the unexpectedly early narrowing of the Democratic nomination fight in New Hampshire. "The dynamics of this race are such that Bradley's in extraordinarily good shape," said one New Hampshire Democrat who is supporting Gore and who asked not to be identified. "This is a wake-up call for the en tire campaign," a senior Gore adviser conceded. "That's the positive thing. You'll see us getting into high gear in New Hampshire. We'll be fighting it house by house, block by block." The sharpened lines in New Hamp shire have forced a change in the Gore strategy. Up to now, the vice president's campaign has attempted to ignore Bradley and to draw contrasts with Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the GOP front-runner. That is no longer the "We believe Bradley has had a hit Francisco essayist, the defiling of common areas by a wave of gun men reflects a clash between the forces of "community" and an alienated class of Americans who feel threatened by symbols of "be longing," most powerfully repre sented by organized religion. This rage, he suggests. "is directed at institutions ... it's a hatred of people who gather under any kind of or ganizational umbrella. We have people who are very angry in their isolation, and who strike hack very publicly. There is something quite loose in the world." Others see even darker forces at work, noting that a number of the recent killings were not sim ply the work of dysfunctional in dividuals, hut purposeful attacks against American society carried out by members of shadowy hate groups. "There are quite a few people today, many of them white males, who are literally at war with this country... said Richard Slotkin, au thor of "Gunfighter Nation," a de tailed examination of American violence. "For them, going into a public place with a gun is the ulti mate symbol of defiance. And this, more than inner-city gang violence Or anything else, has become the characteristic 'Big Crime' of the late 19905.- Not surprisingly, there is sharp division On how to pre'. ent or limit such violence, with some Olsen. - ers calling for stricter gun controls and greater attention to the desper ate problems of the untreated men tally ill. Others say the decline of respect for public symbols of au thority contributes to a reckless sense of "anything goes'' in a vio- lent society. "I 'Oulci never ttnalogi/e the two situations, hut just as we arc horri fied over the defilement of churches and schools by violence, of a free ride with the media and that it's time to start to point out the dif ferences," said Joe Keefe, a former New Hampshire Democratic Party , chairman and a Gore supporter. "We also think Bradley is trying to run to Gore's left and reinvent himself a hit to appeal to the liberal, insurgency bias among New Hampshire voters." "This is ci wake-up call for the entire campaign. That's the positive thing. You'll see us getting into high gear in New Hampshire. We'll be fighting it house by house, block by block." -A senior Gore adviser conceded "Voters know little ahout him," a top Gore official said. "When the inconsistencies are pointed out, it will he uncomfortable for him." A week ago, Gore surrogates criticized Bradley for supporting school vouchers as a senator, forc ing Bradley to say he did not believe vouchers represented a national so lution to the problems of public schools. More attacks are likely. Gore supporters in New Hamp shire appear defensive, protective of their candidate and anxious to point out the disadvantages of campaign ing as a sitting vice president. Over time, they say, Gore will begin to connect with the demanding voters of New Hampshire. "It's very hard when you're vice president to run a grass-roots cam- SEPTEMBER 24, 1999 we should he lingered by author ity figures who demean their of fices and the public space they oc cupy,- said Elshtain. "When we fail to get indignant over these things. it begins to suggest that the boundary between good and had behavior in public areas no longer really exists for us.- Even worse, she and others said, is the probability that this kind of violence will cause Ameri- cans to become even more iso lated than they are, refusing to get involved in any kind of civic life. "What's happening now creates the kind of fear and horror that ter rorism creates," said Columbia historian Alan Brinkley. "It hap pens in places where anyone can imagine themselves being, and even though there's less violence today than there was five years ago. it's hard to imagine a more outrageous and shocking viola tion of space than shooting young people in a church." Even now, government social scientists are trying to get a handle on the scourge of shootings. While homicides are declining, America has concurrently expe rienced a rise in the number of multiple shootings where the vic tims are mainly young people, according to Dr. Rodney Hammond. a psychologist who directs the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Dis ease Control in Atlanta. The CDC will soon publish a report documenting the problem, he added, but it's evident that the traditional approaches to control ling crime -- like tougher laws or adding more police protection -- may no longer he sufficient. "It's a very disturbing trend," Hammond said, "because we don't really know why this has been happening, or what we can do to stop it in the future.'' paign, - said Bill Verge, the Rockingham County Democratic chairman and a Gore supporter. - He's done a better job than 1 ex pected him to -- better than anyone has in the past." endorsements and resources. Gore, for instance, has a strong relation- ship with Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, the most popular politi cian in the state, and, in the absence of an outright endorsement from the governor ( which most Democrats expect will come later), Gore signed up her husband, Bill Shaheen, as his state campaign chairman. On issues, Gore also has the right kind of record support for la bor and civil rights issues and hack ground a keen interest in the envi ronment and in technology issues to appeal to traditional Democrats and to the New Economy voters in New Hampshire. But over time, none of those ad vantages have done much to stall Bradley's progress, both with Democrats and with the increas ingly important independent block Gore has a clear advantage in Second man convicted in dragging death T\IS Campus BRYAN, Texas (TMS) -- A second man was convicicd Monday for his role in the grisly death of a black man who was chained by his ankles to the hack of a pickup truck and dragged to his death. Lawrence Russell Brewer, 32, could get the death penalty for murdering James Byrd Jr. in the small town of Jasper, Texas, last year. Jurors returned a verdict only four hours after the start of their deliberations. Brewer, stand ing next to his attorneys, had no vis ible reaction. Jurors immediately began to hear testimony about whether Brewer should he sentenced to death or life in prison, but recessed for the evening. As early as Tuesday Brewer will find out whether he will join John William King, 24, who has been on death row since February for his role in Byrd's of voters "We always felt that Bill would do well here,'' said Mark kongabaugh. Bradley's New Hampshire coordina tor. "But because the establishment was with Gore, we 'decided wed would go straight to the voters. - In July, the Bradley campaign de voted a week to canvassing Demo cratic and independent voters in New Hampshire. The Bradley volunteers knocked on 35,000 doors in 22 towns and cities and distributed 100,000 pieces of literature. Even Gore sup porters say the canvassing was effec tive. "People came to MV doorstep a couple of times," Keefe said. "I don't think they singled me out. I think it was real. They've impressed me so far." Over time, Gore's establishment- driven campaign has come to appear too top-heavy to his supporters in New Hampshire, and they see Bradley's ability to move without a big entou rage as a huge advantage in a state where face-to-lace contact with ot ers is crucial. "Bradley's campaign has a lot of young people, and Gore's campaign is Washington," Verge said. And Gore's association with President Clinton has become a burden as well as a boost. "It's a real dilemma,'' said one Gore loyalist. "So many people are so sick of Clinton, so embarrassed by him. - Among Democrats who admire Clinton, Gore runs strong; but among those who do rot, Bradley is the fa vorite. The latest WMUR-TV poll showed that among voters age 65 and older -- a group with a less favorable view of Clinton -- Bradley has a sub stantial lead over Gore. Bradley also appears to have an edge among independent voters, al though two recent polls vary signifi cantly on just how much of an advan tage he has. A Boston Globe poll showed independents supporting Bra- playing A third man, Shawn Allen Berry, also 24, faces trial late next month. Prosecutors said they believed the three men killed Byrd to promote their white supremacist organization -- the Confederate Knights of America -- and to initiate Berry into the group. Brewer testified that he urged his companions to release Byrd after Berry slashed Byrd's throat and chained him to the hack of the truck. Brewer also said he was convinced Byrd k+, as dead after Berry slashed his throat with a knife. But a pathologist testified that there was no evidence of a knife wound on Byrd's remains and that authorities found no knife. Byrd, the doctor testified, was alive until his head was torn off when it slammed into a culvert. DNA evidence showed f3rd's blood on the shoes of all three men. he added. dley 51 percent to 31 percent. The WMLIR poll ,howed Bradley's lead, ithin the margin of error, 44 per- cent to 42 percent The sharp narrowing of Gore's o‘erall lead in New Hampshire fore shadows a long and difficult fight for both campaigns. Gore's New Hampshire organiz ers say the new polls, while not help ful, may spur greater intensity among their supporters. "It gets our support ers up and active, - said Nick Baldick, the Vice President's New Hampshire coordinator. "We've gotten going." Gore supporters also said that Bradley will fare worse the more voters compare the two candidates. "Once it becomes a one-on-one con- test, where these two are compared on their ideas and their perfor mances, that will favor the Vice President. Anyone who watched Bill Bradley play in the NBA recalls that Ile was never a very good one-on one player," said a Gore adviser. Bradley supporters acknowledge that their candidate faces a difficult period in the next few months as he begins to lay out his policy prescrip tions and attempts to parry the vice president's attacks. "How he handles this is important," said John Rauh, who along with his wife, Mary. a former Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire. is among Bradley's most prominent supporters here. But Sue Calgary, a top Bradley organizer and a veteran of Hart's 1984 campaign. said the change in the polls not change the charac ter of Bradley's campaign. "We still are the insurgent candidacy," she said, "when you consider the vast resources of the vice presidency. It didn't change anything for us when we saw those polls." PAGE 7
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