This Just In – “All Clear.”
These are the words that Carolina students and parents are going to be listening for going forward. All Clear. You can come out from the bathroom where you’ve been huddled for two hours, texting your parents or out from under a table in the Student Union where you went diving for cover. It’s okay, you can come out now.
A college campus is, by its nature, a free and open place. It’s where you go, after all, to open your mind and understand other cultures, languages and all manner of diverse societal structures. The UNC Chapel Hill Campus is a spectacular example of everything you want in a college campus. It is lush and beautiful in its greenery and architecture. It’s the centerpiece of the town of Chapel Hill and the crown jewel of a gigantic state-wide university system that takes a back seat to no state in its commitment to and delivery of quality higher education for its citizens.
The openness of Carolina, at the center of a surrounding community that adores its students, student life and education more broadly, that openness of access and free movement is also its daunting challenge from a security standpoint.
We cannot turn the Chapel Hill campus into Camp Lejeune – where access is highly restricted by gates of entry and exit and those who come and go are searched.
Likewise, we cannot tolerate a situation where a single individual can wave a gun around and either shoot his way out of his frustration or “merely” brandish the weapon as a threat.
This week, gun safety activists demonstrated at the NC General Assembly. Although this week’s gun-related incident appears to have ended without injuries, I hope that angry (and scared, I’m sure) students will organize and demonstrate on campus to make their feelings known.
It’s hard to understand why it’s any more complicated than this … it’s too easy to get a gun and use violence or its threat to deal with problems. Too easy.
I wouldn’t be so foolish to suggest that we make it impossible to buy a gun, just that the NCGA has made it too easy. It should be at least as difficult to buy a gun as it is to adopt a kitten, and if you’ve ever adopted a kitten or a puppy you know there’s a background check and often a waiting period.
That seems fair, you know? There’s a living thing involved and sometimes careless people do reckless things with a defenseless pet. Nobody wants that.
As this week was the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I’m reminded of how dramatically something in our society has changed. It’s the “NoneyaBusiness” factor in the day-to-day life of Americans, especially in areas where large numbers of people are gathered – like stadiums, theaters, schools and college campuses.
Thankfully, we have moved away from the notion that what a suspicious person is doing is “one of my business” and moved toward the “see something, say something” model. To be sure, some people have overdone it, and reported people who they thought were suspicious because they never saw a Black person in their neighborhood before (or worse).
The fact is, we ALL have a responsibility to look out for each other, to be aware of our surroundings and make every effort to de-escalate situations that can lead to violence. That de-escalation can start with each of us and how we talk to strangers on social media.
It’s going to be years before we hear an ALL CLEAR on this that we can rely on to mean it’s ok to come out – nothing to fear. For now, we will do well to take control of the fear itself.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our biweekly newsletter.
