New Brunswick starts gun violence tipline for students
by Nawal Qarooni
Tuesday October 30, 2007, 3:50 PM on www.nj.com
New Brunswick will launch a campaign against gun violence by promoting an anonymous tipline students can call to warn authorities about threats, officials said today.
Through a $205,504 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the SPEAK UP campaign will be introduced to the city and its youth in the next year and include educational and media components in the city's middle schools.
The hotline was launched in 2002 by New York City-based PAX/ Real Solutions, a nonprofit designed to eliminate gun violence. Since then, the hotline has received 20,000 calls, and 731 of those calls were from anonymous New Jersey residents.
"I know the importance of providing prevention for students in an anonymous way," said New Brunswick Police Sgt. Raymond Trigg, who will run the outreach program in city middle schools. "Especially because a lot of kids are concerned with being a rat or a snitch."
The program will include five billboards a month for the next eight months across New Brunswick in addition to the curriculum component in sixth grade health classes. Similar programs have been launched in Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, said Dan Gross, head of PAX.
demodotcom
http://www.demodotcom.com/talent/bands/22/about.php
When juakali, Bad, B.Polite and Ms. Aisha Bell. step on a stage a natural revolution occurs. Fusing blues, soul, reggae and hip-hop, Second2Last music makes for an unmistakable sound that is anything but obscure. This musical quad tackles complex social issues and delivers with strong conviction, providing an unexpected blend of conscious-raising words and beats.
Second2Lasts hard work led to feature performances with Ruby Dee (actress/activist), Louis Reyes Rivera (historian/poet), Jessica Care Moore (poet/publisher), Danny Glover (actor/activist), Sonia Sanchez (poet/professor/activist), Yusef Komunyakaa (1994 Pulitzer prize winner), The Pharcyde, Mos Def, Medusa, Slum Village, Supernatural, Immortal Technique (hip-hop trendsetters). In addition, Second2Last has performed at innumerable venues including: MSNBCs Here Arts Center, Nuyorican Poets Caf, The Bowery Poetry Club, CBGB Gallery, Rush Philanthropic Gallery, The Skylight Gallery, SOB's, The Knitting Factory, BAM Caf, Joes Pub, Irving Plaza, Tishman Auditorium and Aaron Davis Hall among others.
Second2Last first debut their flawless execution of vocal percussion and live musicianship with the 1999 release, Say Word. Say Word received critical acclaim in the fall 1999 Independent Artist Report on MTV.com, the June 2000 issue of Stress Magazine, the summer 2000 issue of Inner City Magazine and the spring 2001 issue of Blu Magazine. Second2Lasts musical endeavors have taken on an international leg by the recent inclusion on Japanese producer, Kaoru Inoues aka Chari Chari, sophomore album In Time.
Not only are the members of Second2Last performers but they have also presented visual art galleries, (domestic and abroad), moderated creative arts/entertainment panels, and instructed poetry/performance workshops. In the summer of 2004 Second2Last released their second album entitled, Babble On (pronounced Babylon) and produced their first video project Urban Rhapsody which has bben screened at the Vancouver International Hip Hop Film Festival(CANADA), H2O [HIP-HOP ODYSSEY] International Film Festival(NYC), The International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYC,LA,MIAMI), Black Soil Film Festival(NETHERLANDS), The Brooklyn International Film Festival (NYC) and The UrbanWorld Film Festival (NYC). Second2Last continues to be entrepreneurial in their efforts and created say word recordings/ Second2Last Inc., which currently provides t-shirts, music and other merchandise.
When asked what Second2Last's motivation was to continue to write and create, group member, Johny Lashley offered the words of one of their many admirers as the reason for their driving ambition, Thank you...For poetry that challenges the injustices of existing worlds and creates space and possibilities for more just futures.
Second2Last has a long line of influences, but one prominent quote by Franz Fanon drives their philosophy. With such powerful words as their mantra it is now safe to say that when asked what does this generation have to say for them selves?, we can now offer the unified voices of Second2Last.
Guarding His Place: Gravatt retired from prison job to reclaim place in jazz
By MATT PEIKEN
St. Paul Pioneer Press; January 23, 2005©
It's 2 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, and Eric Kamau Gravatt is spending his day like a shut-in.
The shades of his South Minneapolis home are at half-mast, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd are dancing on a muted TV, and Gravatt is deep into a pack of Kools.
Still, there's life here. The Latin jazz of Carlos Valdez is playing on a cassette, and when the tune turns to John Coltrane's "Chasin' the Trane," Gravatt closes his eyes and hums the saxophone solo squawk for squawk. A music stand and a drummer's practice pad stand like ready servants just past the front door, should Gravatt find himself in the mood.
"It seems like I need to have wood in my hands every day," says Gravatt, twin jets of smoke streaming from his nostrils. "Haven't felt this way for 20 years."
Gravatt is a curiosity as much for his place in music as for his decision to turn away from it. Thirty years ago, as he moved from Philadelphia to Minneapolis, Gravatt was as close to a first-call drummer as one could find outside of New York City. He had played with Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Blue Mitchell. He had recorded and toured with one of the earliest incarnations of Weather Report and had joined McCoy Tyner's trio.
Just as his career looked to reach iconic status, Gravatt traded it all in for financial stability. Supporting two young daughters at home, he spent the next 17 years working the graveyard shift as a guard at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes. During that span, Gravatt performed only locally, sparingly and quietly. To this day, few local audiences are aware of his resume.
Now retired from prison work and about to turn 58, Gravatt is reclaiming what he considers his life calling. Just back from touring with Tyner's big band, Gravatt is at the Artists' Quarter this weekend fronting his own group, Source Code.
"I look back and see the impact I had -- or least people tell me I had," he says. "I'm just now realizing this is what I was meant to do. The rest of this has been a test."
HARDENED OUTLOOK
Long before beginning work in a prison, Gravatt developed a hardened outlook on a musician's life. He remembers playing in clubs where owners stowed away the Steinway and brought in a Baldwin piano whenever black artists performed. He had to move his drums through riotous streets the night Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.
None of that accounts for his moody interior and steely exterior, which to this day intimidate or ward off some of his peers.
"I can play music with you, but it don't mean I have to drink with you or laugh at your silly-ass jokes," he says, pausing for a moment to reflect on his musical relationships.
"I alienated a lot of people -- been doing that since I was a kid," he says. "I don't have too many friends, but I'm fine with that. People's feelings bruise easily, and sometimes I forget that."
Gravatt started his musical life as a conga player, and his drumming style is grounded in African rhythms and colorful textures. Modern Drummer Magazine has mentioned him over the years, and there's a small but cultish awareness of Gravatt's contributions to the jazz discography.
His earliest recordings, with Weather Report, show a musicality that impressed but also frustrated the group's founder, Josef Zawinul, who eventually replaced Gravatt in the studio with a more bottom-heavy drummer.
"It really hurt Gravatt," Zawinul told Downbeat Magazine in 2001. "Gravatt was a genius. It wasn't that he didn't play good enough. He was a bad dude, man. (For the third album), I wanted to have what's today called the hip-hop beat, but I needed a low bass drum. Eric had one of those long, small, little things that went 'boop.' That didn't make it. When Eric saw (his replacement) in the studio, he kind of freaked out, and his spirit was not there anymore."
Steady work with the fusion band Natural Life brought Gravatt and his family to Minneapolis. After that group fizzled, family life kept him here. His daughters were 4 and 7 when their mother died, and his next two marriages ended in divorce. Gravatt has been married to his fourth wife for 13 years.
He toured occasionally with Tyner, who had forged his legend in the late '50s and early '60s as part of Coltrane's "Classic Quartet." But even with an artist of that stature, Gravatt had to pay for his own hotel rooms. Tired and too proud to work locally for $50 a night as a sideman, Gravatt sought stability and found it in Minnesota's prison system.
"I played as much drums as I could and raised as much hell as I could," he says. "I've washed dishes, painted apartments, short-order cook. I had kids, and corrections were the only thing being offered that paid that good, and they had (benefits) you couldn't get in jazz."
DISTINCTIVE TALENT
Kenny Horst, owner of the Artists' Quarter and the club's house drummer, has known of Gravatt since Gravatt's days in Philadelphia. Horst considers him a distinctive talent and misunderstood presence on the local jazz landscape.
He has watched Gravatt finesse more tones out of a ride cymbal than many drummers can unfold on an entire kit, crack walnuts with one hand and cry at the funeral of Bobby Peterson, the pianist for Natural Life.
"I don't know why he didn't click as a working drummer here. Maybe people are a little afraid of him," Horst says. "Underneath that brash exterior, Gravatt's a really nice, very sentimental kind of guy. I'm just so glad he's not working in that prison anymore -- it was such a waste; he should have been playing. I think he's having the time of his life right now."
Gravatt recorded with pianist Tony Hymas the day after retiring from prison work, in 2001, and was surprised to get yet another call last year from Tyner. Years earlier, Gravatt turned down one offer to tour with Tyner because of commitments at the prison and chewed out Tyner by phone on another occasion over a mixup.
Their relationship apparently patched, Gravatt toured Europe with Tyner in April and, in the summer, did his first big-band gig with him in Japan.
"He must have been at the end of the line because there are 20,000 other cats who would give (anything) to play with him," he says. "I'll be forever grateful he called."
Gravatt talks about much of his past with his head turned, as if addressing an invisible presence in the room. When he talks about his life now, he looks his company in the eye. He's moving back to Philadelphia by this summer -- "I milked this pond dry," he says of the Twin Cities -- and is hungry to record.
"The only time I feel I know what I'm doing is when I'm playing the drums. Every other decision in my life, I agonize over," he says. "I came into this world at 3 1/2 pounds. I'm just a sand-and-grit kind of person, and I've been able to weather anything that's come in the world. But I'm basically homesick. Maybe I'm an elephant getting ready to croak -- they always go off to die alone."
The 'Gravatty' of the situation
Contributed by Don Berryman
Friday, 28 January 2005 - Jazz Police
Who has lived in the Twin Cities for the past 30 years, recorded with many greats including Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Joe Zawinul, Ron Carter? Who toured Japan with Weather Report and Europe with McCoy Tyner (and will be touring with McCoy again this year)? Give up? It is Eric Gravatt. Many locals also fondly remember him as the powerhouse behind that legendary Minneapolis fusion band Natural Life with the late great Bobby Peterson and Bob Rockwell. He also runs a recording facility and a small publishing company, 1619 Music.
Eric has kept mostly out of the limelight to raise a family in Minnesota for the past 30 years. Having retired from his 'day job' as a prison guard, he is diving back into music full time and recording again. Those of us who have caught his band at the Artists' Quarter over the past few years know what an intense and expressive player he his. Those who haven't heard hin better hurry. Sadly for us here in Minnesota, he plans to move back to Philedelphia by this summer. Catch him while you can, and you can catch him with his band, Source Code this week-end, January 28th and 29th at the Artists'Quater in Saint Paul. In the software world, "Source Code" is the name of a collection of intructions as written to generate the 'binary' executable programs that run on our computers, PDA's, cell-phones and toasters. This Source Code will generate unique and engaging music using the music of the jazz maters like Monk, Coltrane, and Jackie McLean, among others as their source.
"The first time I saw Eric play was at the Keystone Corner in San Francisco, and seeing him play changed my life. There isn't - and maybe never will be - anyone who plays drums with that much intensity. I never fail to mention Eric at my clinics.
I was greatly drawn to his aura behind the kit. And I tried to learn everything that Eric played. His approach comes through in my playing to this day - more than anyone else's". -Drummer Terry Bozzio says of Gravatt
As Andrea Canter reported - His compatriots in Source Code are also veteran musicians: Saxman Dean Brewington grew up in Brooklyn surrounded by jazz legends such as Thelonious Monk, Errol Garner, and Curly Russell. His career has included performing with Buddy Tate, Tina Brooks, Ernestine Anderson, Karrin Allyson, Roy Hanes, Captain Jack McDuff, and Bobby Lyle. An actor as well as musician, Brewington (who moved to the Twin Cities over 40 years ago) toured with the Ordway Theater's musical production of "Buddy - the Buddy Holly Story" in the role of "King Curtis." Vibist David Hagedorn teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, he earned an MM in Percussion Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. Hagedorn has recorded with the George Russell Living Time Orchestra, Debbie Duncan, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and locally performs with Apex, the Phil Hey Quartet, Pete Whitman X-Tet, Low Blows, and Meantime.
Trombonist Dave Leigh directed high school band in Chicago for fifteen years. He's performed with a wide range of artists from Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle, Tommy Dorsey, and Ray Anthony to The Wolverines and "Irish" Jim Tolck. He has also played shows for The Mills Brothers, Milton Berle, Mel Torme, Frankie Avalon, and Elvis Presley. Bassist Ron Evaniuk plays with the Americana Classic Jazz Orchestra (devoted to the big band music of the 20s and 30s) and his own quartet, and recorded with Twin Cities trumpet legend Gene Adams, in addition to his work with Gravatt and Source Code.
"Gravatt's cymbal work is gorgeous... He always adds appropriate accents and his playing accommodates the various styles of the compositions -- whether it is a free-form escapade, a romantic waltz, or a solemn march." - All music guide. Full calendar and information available at the AQ website, www.mnjazz.com or call (651) 292-1359.
Students get early exposure to office
By Amy L. Kovac
July 9, 2006 / July 11, 2006
Alice Hutchinson wakes up at 6 every morning so she can arrive at work on time. Every night before she goes to bed, she picks out the clothes she will wear the next day so she won't have to wake up any earlier. She has been working only four days. She's 14. Alice is one of 32 Paterson high school students who are working for five weeks in Passaic County's Summer Youth Internship Program.
The students, who are rising 10th-graders, attend Eastside High School, Paterson Catholic High School or John F. Kennedy High School. They will work for 25 hours each week and earn $5.15 an hour. Eight of the interns are working in government offices, seven in the private sector and 17 in non-profits. Each intern has a mentor and must write a weekly report about his or her job.
When classes resume in the fall, tutors will help the students after school, and the students will attend cultural events and leadership workshops. The aim of the program is to work with the students until they graduate from high school, making sure that they maintain good grades and are prepared for jobs or college.
The county's Workforce Initiative Board received a grant of $708,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to set up and run the program, in conjunction with Paterson public schools, said Brenda Johnson, director of the Workforce Initiative Board. The grant is renewable for three more years at $500,000 annually.
In the fall, the agency will choose 250 ninth-graders to start in the tutoring program, with the hope that they will be ready to work as interns next summer. Alice, a student at Paterson Catholic, is one of the private-sector interns. Even though her work at River Drive Construction Co. in Elmwood Park isn't directly related to her plans to become a doctor or a lawyer, she is glad to learn about how to work in an office. "Can I handle getting up in the morning? Can I handle going to a job every day? That's what I wanted to find out," she said.
So far, Alice, who started work last Tuesday, has handled her responsibilities well, said Kristine Andersen, Alice's mentor and the office manager at River Drive Construction. Alice has helped Andersen with filing plans and studies for the company's newest project, Riverfront Center, which will house a restaurant, hotel, office building and bank.
The government interns, who work at the county offices on Grand Street, have to complete a project of their choosing by the end of the summer. One intern, Tyron Searight, 15, wants to research nutrition - a good fit for the Eastside student, who wants to become a chef. He has met with his mentor, Freeholder Lois A. Cuccinello, twice this first week on the job. He learned from her about the county's Meals on Wheels program and hopes that he can work with that program in the next few weeks.
This summer, Tyron is also learning how to manage his time. Instead of going straight to work in the mornings, he attends a summer school pre-algebra course at Eastside from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. and then walks or takes a bus to the county office to start his workday. On Friday, Johnson whisked Tyron and the other government interns away from their work for lunch and some group bonding. The grant mandates that the program must also include time for fun and reflection. The Rev. Carolyn McCombs of New Destiny Community Corp. a Paterson faith-based services center, came along to talk with the students and ask them what they had learned thus far. Jamila Taylor, 15, said she had learned that Passaic County has its own historic site: Lambert Castle. She has been researching tourism and economic development in the area and took a trip to the castle for the first time last week.
E-mail: kovac@northjersey.com
Woman takes gun crusade on road
Nephew's death launches mission to keep kids safe by urging parents to beware of weapons in the home. By Christina Stolarz / The
Detroit News
HARRISON TOWNSHIP -- Linda Leitz always made sure there were plenty of life jackets around when her children played at their friends' homes on Lake St. Clair because she believes that you can never be too careful. She told them to wear their seat belts and warned them about the danger of matches, but Leitz never thought to ask the friends' parents if they kept guns in the home. "We warn kids about everything under the sun, but we never think to ask, 'Is there a weapon?' " said Leitz, 57, an employee at the L'Anse Creuse Child Care Center in Harrison Township. "We're so cautious; we assume other people are too."
That question didn't even register until her nephew was accidentally shot and killed two years ago while playing at the home of a friend in Florida. The tragic accident not only ignited a sense of loss in Leitz, but also put her on a mission to protect other children. The Harrison Township resident has introduced the national Asking Saves Kids campaign to Macomb County parents and community members. The campaign encourages parents to ask if there are guns in the homes where their children play.
Leitz's efforts to spread the campaign's message through posters, brochures and T-shirts joins the efforts of other volunteers in 33 states who will participate today in the fifth annual ASK day to raise awareness.
The message can save lives, said Daniel Gross, chief executive officer and founder of New York City-based PAX/Real Solutions to Gun Violence. When the nonprofit PAX, which means 'peace' in Latin, first established the campaign in 2000, only about 2 million people asked that question. Now, an estimated 5 million parents ask, PAX said.
"It's about making people realize that this problem we face with gun violence ... is claiming the lives of eight children and teens each day," said Gross, noting the organization neither supports nor protests having guns in a home. "It's a serious problem. People are tired of kind of sitting around helplessly.
There are solutions." He said there's no harm in simply asking a question in a nonconfrontational way. And if the gun isn't locked away, separate from the ammunition, and parents are uncomfortable, they should invite the children to play at their home instead. In 2002, gun violence killed 2,893 children and teens ages 19 and under nationwide, according to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, about 40 percent of homes with children have guns and only about half of those keep them locked up and unloaded.
Jill and Denesh Kalia have always talked to their son, Zachary, 4, about gun safety because Denesh is an avid hunter. But the Harrison Township couple never thought to ask the parents of Zachary's friends if they own a gun. She said there's no room for uneasiness when asking that question, even if it feels like you're intruding. "You have to have the guts to ask it because you're not going to ask it after the fact," said Jill Kalia, 36. Stephanie Jenkins, a science teacher and mother of three, said she's constantly on the go and doesn't have much free time. But she quickly got involved with Leitz's mission because she's tired of listening to the reports about kids and gun violence.
"It does make you just sick and tired," said Jenkins, 42, of Clinton Township. After talking with Leitz about the campaign, Jenkins immediately passed on information to her co-workers and friends. "It's simple. Ask ... that's all you have to do," she said. What started out as a way to remember her nephew has grown into a commitment for Leitz. In August, she plans to discuss the issue with all the L'Anse Creuse elementary school principals. "My goal is to not hear about another child getting shot," she said. "I've found a lot of comfort in the support. All of us are starting to find some peace."
You can reach Christina Stolarz at (586) 468-0343 or cstolarz@ detnews.com.
Parents Urged to Ask About Guns in Other People's Homes
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
June 21, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - On this first day of summer, anti-gun groups are observing the fifth annual National ASK Day -- ASK, an acronym for "asking saves kids."Anti-gun activists say with most children now out of school, the question parents should be asking is this: "Is there a gun where your child plays?" Groups taking part in National ASK Day include Pax/Real Solutions to Gun Violence (in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics); Physicians for Social Responsibility; CeaseFire PA; and Million Mom March Chapters of Pennsylvania.
Representatives from those groups plan to hold an "educational" press conference at noon on Tuesday in Philadelphia -- "to inform parents and physicians of strategies to reduce the threat of gun violence to children," as the press release put it. According to the Pax anti-gun coalition, more than 40 percent of American homes with children have guns, and many of those guns, it says, are kept unlocked and loaded. Each year thousands of children are killed or injured in shootings involving these guns, the press release said.
The ASK Campaign encourages parents to ask their neighbors if they have a gun in the home before sending their children out to play, and it also encourages physicians to ask their patients if they have guns in the house.Pax launched its first ASK campaign in the fall of 2000, and it says in the program's first two years, the number of parents who said guns are a top concern when their children visit someone's home rose from 5 percent to 19 percent.
The number of parents who said they have been asked about guns in their home rose from 5 percent to 10 percent in the same time period, Pax said."Parents are now talking with their neighbors about guns in the home as a routine part of good parenting, bringing the issue out into the open for the first time," PAX said on its website."Through the ASK Campaign, America is changing the way it looks at guns and gun violence, and most importantly, lives are being saved," the group claimed. ASK is sponsored by the American Medical Association, and its endorsers include the following:
American Federation of Teachers
American Public Health Association
Children's Defense Fund
The Interfaith Alliance Foundation
National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Education Association
National Head Start Association
National Parenting Association
Physicians For Social Responsibility
Police Executive Research Forum
Police Foundation
Pax/Real Solutions to Gun Violence describes itself as "the largest non-political, nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the gun violence epidemic in America."This year, the group has partnered with Good Housekeeping magazine in sponsoring a contest that asks communities to "spell out the letters A-S-K in the most creative and compelling way possible." Pax also is distributing brochures offering tips in English and Spanish on how to ask about guns in other people's homes; and it urges concerned citizens to write articles and letters to the editor (sample provided) to spread the word about the ASK Campaign.
Second Amendment groups such as the National Rifle Association have long advocated programs that teach children gun safety as the best way to reduce accidental shootings in homes with guns. Some Second Amendment advocates also note that statistics on the number of children killed or injured by guns are skewed by the inclusion of older teenagers -- gang members and other criminals who don't care about gun safety and have no respect for the law.
Anti-gun initiative full of blanks
Published on: 06/29/05
June 21 was the first day of summer. Most folks knew that. But I bet few people — very few — knew that the 21st day of June was also the fifth annual "National ASK Day." In this context, "ASK" stands for "asking saves kids."
By now you might be asking yourself, what is this about? Why should I care? The answer to the last question aside — the answer seems obvious given that so few people have ever heard of the ASK program — what we're talking about here is another one of the many so-called "programs" being pushed by various groups that, in one way or another, don't like firearms.This ASK program is pushed primarily by a group calling itself PAX: Real Solutions to Gun Violence, which has a Web site (listing phone and fax numbers but no address) containing some statistics, a letter and some materials to "help" those who want to participate in the ASK program.
What exactly does this ASK program do? Not much. It essentially directs parents to ask the parents of children with whom their children play if they — the other parents — have any guns in their home. The point is, I suppose, that if you as a parent ask such a question, you can then keep your kids away from those houses at which — shudder — firearms might be present (probably about half of all homes in America, and probably higher in Georgia).
The silliness of this approach is apparent. First of all, if someone were to ask most Americans, "Do you have any guns in your house?" they'd be met either with "That's certainly none of your business" or with a lie ("Of course not").Even if someone were naive enough to tell someone that they did have a gun in the house, what would you do about it once armed with such a revealing and valuable piece of information? Start crossing those homes off the list of places your children could play? Accompany them if and when they visit such homes? Turn the people over to the authorities as possible terrorists?
And what would you do when your children wind up visiting those homes anyway, which they probably would be even more likely to do once they know or surmise that a certain home is off limits or that it has a gun in it?
Even as venerable a publication as Good Housekeeping has gotten in on the ASK bandwagon, running a short missive describing the program and urging its readers to participate. What does the question of which American homes have firearms in them have to do with good housekeeping? Absolutely nothing.
On a more fundamental level, however, the ASK program is another politically correct effort to turn Americans very subtly — some not so subtly — against firearms. It uses heart-rending stories (of which there are many for whatever product one decides to attack) and statistics of fear to make its point.For example, in reading the ASK materials, one would think that accidental deaths of children in America are an epidemic, or at least at a very high level. The fact is, accidental deaths of children from firearms are at an all-time low — a trend that has continued over the past decade even as the number of firearms maintained lawfully by Americans in their homes has increased.
Even according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, accidental deaths of children by firearms remains far behind other accidental causes of death such as drowning, motor vehicles, poisoning, fire, falls and suffocation. The same holds for other countries, including those in which private ownership of firearms is unlawful or severely restricted.If parents are truly concerned with reducing the chances their child will be harmed or killed at a friend's house, perhaps they ought to worry more about asking whether the other parents have a swimming pool, a car, stairs, any substances that might be poisonous to humans, or plastic bags lying around. More importantly, however, they might want to simply remind their own children of the four basic, common sense rules to follow if a child sees a firearm: "Stop. Do not touch it. Leave the area immediately. Tell an adult."
Why doesn't ASK or Good Housekeeping devote their resources to endorsing such a common-sense message? Simple — it's a message the National Rifle Association has been promoting for years through its "Eddie Eagle" program in kindergarten and grade schools, and therefore not sufficiently politically correct for ASK or Good Housekeeping.
Campaign raises awareness of guns in homes
Published by news-press.com on June 20, 2005
Ensuring children aren't playing with guns while visiting a friend's house seemed like a good idea to several local child advocates who've begun a new awareness campaign in Lee County.The Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida's child advocacy team has paired up with PAX/Real Solutions to Gun Violence for the ASK, or Asking Saves Kids, Campaign — a program that encourages parents to check with other parents about gun access while playing in their homes. According to PAX, a nonprofit, nonpolitical group against gun violence that launched the ASK Campaign in 2000, more than 40 percent of homes with children have guns, and many are kept unlocked and loaded.
"Just talking to your child about the dangers of firearms is not enough. Children are naturally curious. If a gun is accessible in someone's home, there is a good chance a child will find it and play with it," PAX officials say.The message: Ask your neighbor if they have a gun before sending your children over to play."Say if Johnny comes over, the average mom might ask about seat belts or swimming ... but not if there is a gun in the house," said Michele King, child advocacy program manager for The Children's Hospital. ASK Day 2005 takes place Tuesday, and advocates will spend the evening at the Miracle games handing out brochures and asking questions.
King said the stadium also will read PSAs between innings and put ASK information on the scoreboard.Brochures also have been given out to the parents of about 500 children in Lee Memorial Health System's day care centers."The reality that 40 percent of homes with children have guns was so shocking to me," she said. "I don't think a lot of us talk to children about the dangers of guns."I thought this was great awareness and eye-opening to parents."
Here are some tips for parents who want to ask about guns:
• Ask along with other questions you might normally discuss before sending your child to someone's house, such as about seat belts, animals or allergies.
• Work through groups, to introduce the ASK concept, such as through the PTA or a mother's group.
• Don't be confrontational, present your concerns in a respectful manner. You're simply trying to make sure child is playing in a safe environment.
• If your neighbor has a gun, make absolutely sure all guns are stored, unloaded and locked. Ideally, the guns will be in a gun safe.
"Hiding guns is not necessarily enough," King said. "Children often find it and don't know if it's real or not and will play with it."
The Southwest Florida affiliate of The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is looking to bring one of the largest fundraising cancer runs in the world to Lee County.Officials want to see the 5K run and fitness walk — which attracts about 1.4 million people in more than 100 races nationwide each year — play out at Florida Gulf Coast University by 2007. But to do that, Komen officials said they need letters of support from community organizations that would like to see the race in Southwest Florida.
"The Komen Race for the Cure Series raises significant funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer, celebrates breast cancer survivorship and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease," wrote Bonnie Olson, Southwest Florida Affiliate executive director in an e-mail to the community. She said letters, which are due to her on letterhead by June 30, only need to state support, not indicate any financial commitment. For more information, the local chapter can be reached online at http://www.komenswfl.org or by calling 980-7465.
Letters may be sent to P.O. Box 366337, Bonita Springs, FL 34136.
PR Newswire, March 22, 2005
NEW YORK, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- PAX/Real Solutions to End Gun Violence mourned the death today of 10 students in Red Lake, Minn., who died in the nation's worst school shooting in six years. In an effort to stop such tragedies, PAX has established 866-SPEAK-UP, an anonymous hotline where students can report weapon-related threats at school. The group will also be launching a public service announcement television and radio campaign to empower students to stop weapon-related violence before it occurs.
"We are deeply saddened by this senseless tragedy that has touched the lives of so many people in Minnesota and across the nation," said Daniel Gross, PAX CEO and co-founder. "Our hearts go out to the families and we will do everything in our power
to help prevent such tragedies in the future."
The PAX hotline was founded with the knowledge that in 81 percent of school shootings the attackers told innocent students about their plans beforehand. This means that more than 4 out of 5 of these tragedies could have been prevented,
according to PAX."With more than 4,000 calls, the hotline is making a difference in students' lives and almost certainly leading to the prevention of numerous tragedies," said Daniel Gross. "Students have the power to make their schools safer. All they have to do is speak up."
PAX plans to launch the "Signs" PSA campaign in the fall, when students return school from summer break. The national advertising campaign will highlight that most school shootings can be prevented if students take affirmative steps such as calling the 866-SPEAK-UP hotline. An early, rough cut version of the "Signs" campaign is available to the media. The ads can be viewed online at http://pax.com/signs/
PAX also recently introduced a fully accredited SPEAK UP Education Kit to accompany its hotline. The kit offers students a look at a fictional school shooting from the perspective of student journals and prompts discussion on the benefits of speaking up. PAX was founded in 1998 to bring new and effective solutions to the problem of gun violence in America -- a public health crisis that claims the lives of 8 children every day.
PAX has since grown into the largest non-lobbying gun violence prevention organization in the nation. More importantly, PAX's work provides parents, children and others everywhere with simple solutions to make their homes, families and communities safer -- solutions, which are literally saving children's lives every day. To learn more about PAX, visit http://www.pax.com/.
CONTACT: Wayne Besen, +1-917-691-5118, for PAX Web site: http://www.pax.com/
Just Ask: How a nonpolitical organization has found some real—and bipartisan—solutions to reduce gun violence
By Marc Gellman
May 25 - Theodore Roethke, the great Michigan poet who died in 1963, once said, “What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.” In his memory, I willoccasionally highlight the work of impossibility specialists. These are people and organizations who are willing to enter politically supercharged issues in the culture wars without becoming political at all. They represent a kind of deep spiritual courage (although some of these impossibility specialists are not religious or even spiritual) that is both rare and needed in order to recover hope. They show us all that outside of the fractious debates and polemics, some real bipartisan human healing can still occur and the poisoned political environment can be detoxified if we look to what we all agree can be done, rather than what we refuse to agree can be done.
I recently encountered some specialists in the impossible who are working in the supercharged field of gun violence—but who have no interest and take no position on the tendentious question of gun control. In 1997 they created a small organization called PAX(www.pax.com) With the leadership of Dan Gross, a budget of under $1 million,a staff of less than 10 and administrative costs of under 10 percent, they have developed several real solutions to the gun violence that tragically snatches nearly 2,900 kids—a 9/11-worth of youngpeople every year—into heaven and away from us every year. Without any programs or flip ideological screeds foolishly and unconstitutionally demanding the confiscation of all guns, the people at PAX have focused instead on what can be done right now by all of us on both sides of the gun debate to save the lives of those who will die next year unless something is done to stop it.
The first of PAX's two major programs is called ASK (Asking Saves Kids). This campaign, created in collaboration with the American Academy of Pediatrics, is so absurdly simple every sensitive soul among us ought to be embarrassed at not thinking it up ourselves.
The ASK Campaign simply asks parents to ask the adults in the homes their children are visiting if there is a gun in the house. That's it! Just ask. More than 40 percent of homes in our country have a gun, says PAX, and almost half of those guns are unlocked or loaded or both.
I love this idea because it is real, and it is within our power and it works. It empowers parents who already ask about peanuts and dog hair to also ask about guns. More than 400 organizations have joined with PAX to promote the ASK Campaign, and they estimate that now over 2 million play dates per day are preceded by this not-at-all innocent question, “Do you have a gun in your house?”
The second project of PAX is called the Speak-Up Campaign. This is the first nationwide hotline for students to anonymously report weapon-related threats at their schools. The hotlinenumber is 866-SPEAK-UP. Again the statistics are numbing. Every day more than 100,000 kids bring a weapon to school. According to PAX literature, every single school day in America eight kids are killed by gun violence, and three out of four attackers told other students about their plans before the shootings. If the ones who are told have the courage to report these threats,lives can be saved. This Speak-Up hotline can give them the courage. Already more than 5,000 calls have come into the hotline and these calls have saved lives. As Michelle, a California student, wrote to PAX: “We found out a boy was going to attack our school. He had four guns and was planning on walking into the cafeteria around lunchtime. They said a lot of people might have been shot, even killed. We told what we knew. We saved our school.”
ONLINE MAIL CALL
Our readers respond to Gellman's column on Kids and Guns
It’s a question Carol Price wishes she had asked. In a letter written to PAX, Price recalls the events of Aug. 20, 1998: “My 13-year-old son John asked to go to play with his friend down the street. In the five years that John's friend's parents and I had been neighbors, I had never thought about the safety of my son playing at their house, so I let him go. He tousled my hair as he always did and said, 'Thanks mom, I love you.' I watched him through the dining room window as he walked down the sidewalk, stopped just short of our neighbor's front door and blew me a kiss. That was the last time I saw him alive. Twenty minutes later I found the police at my front door. While John was watching TV, Phillip, a 9-year old child in the home, went to an upstairs bedroom, opened a dresser drawer and took out a 9-mm handgun.
A few moments later he pulled the trigger. John was struck once in his face and died instantly. It turned out that there were 11 unsecured weapons throughout my neighbor's house. None of us ever knew about the weapons because no one ever asked the question, “Do you have a gun in your home?”
PAX has a letter of praise from former attorney general John Ashcroft as well as ultraliberal advisers from the Hollywood-New York entertainment glitterati. Together, these strange bedfellows have walked into the mine field of gun violence and have not blown up nor blown up each other. This is because they have sought out and discovered the common ground of concern and the need for real solutions not ideological Armageddon. Earlier this week, I attended the PAX gala in Manhattan, where Rosanne Cash, the daughter of the late Johnny Cash, and one of the honorees at the gala, sent a note to the semi-attentive lamb-chop eaters at Cipriani's. Cash could not attend because she was sitting at the bedside of her gravely ill mother. Her musician husband, John Leventhal, read the note, which apologized for her absence, before he joined Lyle Lovett on stage. “My mother never made us children responsible for our own safety,” wrote Cash. “In the same way, we have to ASK if there's a gun where our children are playing, and we have to help our teenagers SPEAK-UP to report a weapons threat in school; and we have to protect them from their own erratic impulses and innocent curiosity, until they are mature enough to do so themselves. We have to be the grown up in the room. I am sorry I am not there tonight with you … but I thank you for this honor and for supporting PAX, and for being the grown up in the room. God bless you.”
No, Roseanne and all the people at PAX … God bless you! I come from a religious tradition that teaches, if you save one life it is like saving an entire world. The people at PAX are not just kind good folk. They are world savers and my first example in this column of specialists in the impossible. More to follow.
'How to Talk to Your Kids About School Violence' about How to Talk to Your Kids About School Violence."
Dr. Ken Druck, Onomatopoeia Inc., 2003
The issue of violence in America's schools is one that continues to concern parents,educators and students. In his book "How to Talk to Your Kids About School Violence," Dr. Ken Druck tackles this problem by outlining a comprehensive response plan for parents, school officials and concerned citizens.Druck speaks from experience when discussing school violence. According to www.jennadruck.org, he founded the Jenna Druck Foundation in 1996 after the death of his oldest daughter in a tragic bus accident in India. The foundation's mission in part is to provide "services to help families in the hours, weeks and months after losing a child." In his bookDruck says, "I wrote (this book) to show parents how to talk to their children about safety and be effective … You'll learn to tune in to your child's world, teach them how to recognize and deal with a potentially violent situation, escape a dangerous situation, handle a bully, and report a threat." Here are some highlights from different chapters in the book:
Getting started
In talking to your children about school violence, it's important to build a stronger relationship with them so they respond to what you are saying. Parents can "build a bridge" to their children by having regular heart-to-heart talks, involving other family members or friends, and understanding that it's OK not to have all of the answers. If you are having difficulty establishing this relationship, try asking your children to express their opinions, be supportive when they do open up to you, and maintain a calm, sincere tone to your voice. Always try to avoid conversation stoppers such as "That's life!" or "You'll be fine; get over it!" and remember to refrain from using power tactics ("Because I said so!") or excessive punishments.
The parent's violence prevention toolbox
According to Druck there are 10 essential tools that parents can use to protect their children. These include knowing where your child is, knowing your child's friends and their parents, building your child's self-confidence, becoming better informed about school safety, talking to your kids about the threat of violence, and -- most importantly -- getting involved in your school and community. Druck points out that parents, school officials and citizens may not always agree on the best approach to preventing school violence. This controversy can produce positive results when "all parties show respect, listen, and learn from one another and search for common ground."
When children bring weapons to school the unthinkable has now become a more common occurrence: children bringing guns, knives and other weapons to school. If children encounter a weapon in school, they must be prepared to react. Druck offers a "do and don't" list for parents to discuss with their children: Do report immediately to someone in authority, talk only to the authority in charge, and remain calm if you are at risk or in an inescapable situation. Don't do anything to put yourself in danger, don't ignore or minimize the danger, and above all, don't antagonize a person with a weapon or try to disarm the person. If your child does tell you about a weapon at school, take immediate action by contacting the school and the police, praise your child for courage and character, and reassure your child that he or she has done the right thing by reporting the episode to you. Other important chapters in this book include "Being a role model," "Listening and talking," "The anatomy of violence," "Your child's violence prevention toolbox," "Talking to your kids about school violence," and "What's being done to create safe schools."
"How to Talk to Your Kids About School Violence" is an important contribution to this growing problem in our society. According to Daniel Gross, the co-founder of PAX – Real Solutions to Gun Violence, "Rarely are parents given practical tools to help make their children and their schools safer. This book provides this vital information in a way that is easy, even fun, to read. If every parent read this book, our nation's schools and schoolchildren would be much safer." This book is recommended to everyone concerned with the increasing threat of violence in our schools.
Tragic School Shooting in Minnesota Highlights Importance of PAX's Life-Saving 1-866-SPEAK-UP Hotline
Tuesday March 22, 10:47 am ET
- PAX to Unveil Major PSA Campaign to Stop School Violence
NEW YORK, March 22 /PRNewswire/ -- PAX/Real Solutions to End Gun Violence mourned the death today of 10 students in Red Lake, Minn., who died in the nation's worst school shooting in six years. In an effort to stop such tragedies, PAX has established 866-SPEAK-UP, an anonymous hotline where students can report weapon-related threats at school. The group willalso be launching a public service announcement television and radio campaign to empower students to stop weapon-related violence before it occurs.
"We are deeply saddened by this senseless tragedy that has touched the lives of so many people in Minnesota and across the nation," said Daniel Gross, PAX CEO and co-founder. "Our hearts go out to the families and we will do everything in our power to help prevent such tragedies in the future." The PAX hotline was founded with the knowledge that in 81 percent of school shootings theattackers told innocent students about their plans beforehand. This means that more than 4 out of 5 of these tragedies could have been prevented, according to PAX.
"With more than 4,000 calls, the hotline is making a difference in students' lives and almost certainly leading to the prevention of numerous tragedies," said Daniel Gross. "Students have the power to make their schools safer. All they have to do is speak up." PAX plans to launch the "Signs" PSA campaign in the fall, when students return to school from summer break. The national advertising campaign will highlight that most school shootings can be prevented if students take affirmative steps such as calling the 866-SPEAK-UP hotline. An early, rough cut version of the "Signs" campaign is available to the media. The ads can be viewed online at http://pax.com/signs/
PAX also recently introduced a fully accredited SPEAK UP Education Kit to accompany its hotline. The kit offers students a look at a fictional school shooting from the perspective of student journals and prompts discussion on the benefits of speaking up. PAX was founded in 1998 to bring new and effective solutions to the problem of gun violence in America -- a public health crisis that claims the lives of 8 children every day.
PAX has since grown into the largest non-lobbying gun violence prevention organization in the nation. More importantly, PAX's work provides parents, children and others everywhere with simple solutions to make their homes, families and communities safer -- solutions, which are literally saving children's lives every day. To learn more about PAX, visit http://www.pax.com/.
The Buzz Lightyear Ride? Tell Us About It
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: June 2, 2005
The PAX/Real Solutions to Gun Violence organization held a benefit honoring ROSEANNE CASH last week, though Ms. Cash wasn't there. She was in California with her mother, VIVIAN DISTIN, who died later that night.The benefit went on anyway, as did a performance by LYLE LOVETT, who later spoke with us about his days in journalism school. "As I went to journalism school, I realized I don't have what it takes to ask the tough questions," Mr. Lovett said, after which we asked how big his bike collection was and what he thought about BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN.RICHARD BELZER, PATTY SMYTH, JOHN MCENROE, MANDY PATINKINand TONY ROBERTS were in the audience.
G.E. SMITH, who played with Mr. Lovett, shared some memories of his days backing BOB DYLAN. "He would tell the band before the show, 'Whatever I do, just keep playing'," Mr. Smith recalled. "So he gets down to what's usually the end of the show and he goes down the side of the stage and heads up the side aisle. And the audience is going nuts because he's kind of walking in the audience. Then he pushes out one of the side doors and goes outside. "And we're all still on stage playing and playing, wondering what's happening. Later we would get word from the stage manager to stop playing. What Bob did was go outside in the street and hail a cab and go back to the hotel. Then he would phone the stage manager to tell us to stop playing. We were amazed when he did this in New York, and amazed that he could get a cab at that time."With Lily Koppel, Paula Schwartz and Joe Brescia.
Correction: June 8, 2005, Wednesday: A report in the Boldface column on Thursday about a benefit held by PAX/Real Solutions to Gun Violence misspelled the given name of the person who was honored. She is Rosanne Cash, not Roseanne.
ASK to stop gun deaths
Re: In Seanne's stead, May 28.
After reading this article, I wanted to inform you about a real and bipartisan solution to reduce gun violence.
It is called the ASK Campaign. The ASK (Asking Saves Kids) Campaign urges parents to ask their neighbors if they have a gun in the home before sending their children over to play. It is a comprehensive national public health campaign, developed by PAX - Real Solutions to Gun Violence, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Over 40 percent of homes with children have guns. Many are kept unlocked and loaded, and every year thousands of children are killed or seriously injured as a result. The ASK Campaign provides a practical opportunity for parents to protect their children from gun violence.
For more information, please contact PAX at www.pax.com or 212 269-5100.
-- Arthur Nethercoat, Clearwater
BEARS MAKE SPECIAL VISIT FOR VETERAN'S DAY AND 49ERS ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO SPEAK UP ABOUT GUN VIOLENCE
(Nov. 8, 2004) -- In honor of Veteran's Day, Patrick Mannelly and Brad Maynard of the Chicago Bears will visit veterans at Hines VA Hospital. Ronnie Heard, Brandon Lloyd, Mike Rumph, and Jimmy Williams of the San Francisco 49ers will visit Aragon High School in San Mateo to encourage students to speak up about gun violence and to use 1-866-SPEAKUP to report violence in and around their school. Players will also ask students to help them promote the importance of having safe schools. Through the NFL All-Stars Grant program, 20 area schools will each receive grants to implement their "safe schools" campaigns. These are just a few of the many community service activities taking place as part of "NFL Tuesdays."
Tuesday is the traditional day off for NFL players during the season. It is the day players escape the rigors of pro football and get reacquainted with rest and relaxation. But many players also use their day off to "go to work" in their communities. The NFL highlights these day-off community endeavors with a program entitled "NFL Tuesdays." The program is designed to raise awareness, both locally and nationally, about the day-off charitable work of NFL players and coaches.
"For years, NFL players and coaches have been working extensively in their communities on their day off," NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says. "While many of us use our two-day weekend to relax, countless NFL players and coaches use their one day off during the season to give back to their communities. It's time players received more credit for that."
