By Duncan Baumgarten Grayscale photos of children holding shooting targets to their chests hang silently on the walls of the exhibition. Art and activism have always been intertwined, and the gun safety issue is no different. In celebration for Kate Wool’s new exhibit I am NOT a Target, on October 5, featuring the above mentioned pieces, the Fairbanks community held a gun safety community forum at Raven’s Landing. Featured was Dr. Karen Gaborik, the superintendent for the school district since 2014. Joining her was Kaden Monzingo, a recent West Valley graduate, Dr. Valerie Gifford, and Dr. Rob Duke, both assistant educators at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The discussion opened with Dr. Gaborik. She emphasized her responsibility to “look at the big picture”, when considering gun safety around schools. The superintendent made a point to showcase the school district’s motives and efforts to minimize the risk of any firearm-related incidents for Fairbanks. Her main point was prevention, far more than in-the-moment response. Her two major points were “prevention” and “security”, pointing to the safety measures being brought to the school district. Namely, Joy Elementary, which is the first in the community to engage a “Camera Buzzer” system. Following the beginning of the school day, the doors are locked, and any visitor must answer to scrutiny via a camera, feeding into the front office. She cited the importance of engaging the system in the two schools originally chosen, Joy and Tanana, because of the distance between the front doors and the front office. She reassured attendee of the importance of allocated resources concerning security. “We would be remiss,” Gaborik said, “if we didn’t pay attention to security.” Dr. Gaborik characterized a few of the further preventative systems at play, namely the ten new social workers brought into the school district. She spoke to a few of the other programs introduced into the community, like Asking Saves Kids (ASK), which concerns communicating with parents about gun safety.
Additionally, the “Say Something” Program very much mirrors the “If You See Something, Say Something” initiative conceived by Homeland Security. Catering to 6th through 12th grade students, it’s designed to help teach students to recognize the warning signs of peers who may be at risk of violence, and to “take the jokes seriously”. She briefly touched on the ALICE initiative, the new in-school response program for the borough, and later returned to the topic when a concerned citizen asked if the curriculum would be frightening for younger students. She reassured that the presentations would be “developmentally appropriate”. She got to the root of the initiative, however, with the simple question; “If someone is trying to kill you, how do you survive?”, and the reassurance that ALICE intends to teach students to “do what makes sense to you in the moment”. Monzingo spoke to his experience with “March for our Lives”, in his senior year. He reiterated the core issue; “There are steps you can take to make it less likely”. He shared a story about a visit to the shooting range, where a citizen was firing an automatic weapon. He confided that he couldn’t imagine what that must sound like inside a school. Monzingo additionally disclosed a personal story of a friend who had committed suicide with a gun. “If that gun was where he couldn’t get to it,” he lamented, “maybe things would have been different.” Dr. Gifford, a practicing clinical psychologist, communicated her view on the role marginalization plays in the creation of violence in students. “Someone perceives that they don’t belong,” she said, which leads to “feeling like a burden”. She spoke to the connection between “the violence outside”, with the psychological trauma inside, and the “violent exclusion” they experience. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, was the main focal point of the evening. Gifford claimed that children who are violent, both towards themselves, and towards others, especially school shooters, will always have ACEs, or traumas that affected their development. “Acting out is an indicator for suffering,” she says. Dr. Rob Duke, who previously served in law enforcement and criminal justice, claimed that schools were “porous”, and had too many areas lacking security. Citizens were concerned about a lack of resources to administer the security and prevention measures for the borough. Despite having ten new social workers hired, Gaborik agreed, and expanded on the need to have a reasonable expectation for educators. “The whole child comes through the door,” she admitted, knowing that “children have more needs than a school teacher can provide.” Debra Vance, a master’s student working with Dr. Gifford to examine the relationship between mental health and gun violence, shared her findings on the role of school counselors. “The ratio of students to school counselors is twice as high as it should be,” and testified to the need for student-specific preventative measures, like “Say Something”. As for being in effect for schools, Gaborik promised that there would be “once a quarter” scenario practice during SSP, to discuss hypothetical risks and dangers, and how to deal with threats. When the conversation returned again to the possible traumatizing of young children, Gaborik brought it back to community. “This is a community issue,” she said, “it has to be a community priority.” Duke imparted wisdom he garnered from his time on the police force; “With every homicide, the cops knew it was coming”, because of the complaints and calls received prior. Vance added onto the foreknowledge issue; typically, six months prior to a tragedy, the future offender will talk about their plans, citing the shooting in Bethel. “It’s not about which gun is used,” she urged, “it’s about how the kids react.” The issue returned to the reason for the forum; art. Kate Wool, a local artist, photographer, advocate, and mother, pioneered the I am NOT a Target series, commonly featured in local gun violence protests. The pieces feature children with shooting targets taped to their chests, or held in hands. The series is a part of the ForFreedoms organization, a movement to produce art installations, town hall meetings, billboards and lawn signs to help awaken civic activity in local communities nationwide. Wool’s installation is a facet of the 50 States Initiative, programming to encourage participation, and inspire conversation, surrounding the November Elections. “Big change is coming,” says Dr. Gaborik. Wool’s art will be on display on Well Street Art Co. until the end of October.
1 Comment
The Jub
10/30/2018 09:02:24 am
As always, great article, Duncan. Always a joy to read your stuff. Nice information and good writing, great job!
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