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Yahoo!Seventy people—young and old, men and women, straight and gay, many dressed in black and most holding lit candles—gathered at the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens to remember the life and death of 15-year-old Lawrence King, an Oxnard boy who was shot and killed last week because of his sexual orientation. After a vigil at the Gardens led by Pacific Pride Foundation and the Anti-Defamation League, the group proceeded in a walk down State Street to Trinity Episcopal Church, where a memorial was made in remembrance of King. “We are really, really saddened by what has happened this last week,” said Jackie Reid of the Anti-Defamation League.
Paul Wellman
The march starts at the archway of the courthouse
King was shot in the head by a fellow classmate early in the school day at E.O. Green School on Feb. 12 and taken off a ventilator late Feb. 14 after he was declared brain dead by doctors. According to news reports, the shooting was a hate crime because King was gay. “Just when we think we're evolving in such a beautiful way, we have this happen,” Mayor Marty Blum said to the crowd. “As you evolve we get better and better and then you slip back.”
Paul Wellman
The group heads from the courthouse towards State St.
Angelica Hernandez, a student at Dos Pueblos High School, cried “Everyone should be safe,” she said. “I don’t think it was the bullet that killed Lawrence. I don’t think it was the shooter that killed Lawrence. It was the society that’s built and structured in a heterosexual manner. It’s just unfair that I can go to school and have classmates think it’s not an important issue.”
After the rains cleared yesterday afternoon, Hernandez said she saw a rainbow, and believed it was a sign from King that “he’s appreciating what we’re doing this weekend and to keep fighting for LGBT rights.”
Paul Wellman
A group gathers outside the Trinity Episcopal Church
Many in the group and the leaders who spoke talked about remembering King, but also moving forward to continue to raise the consciousness of accepting people of all shapes and sizes, color and orientation and creating an inclusive environment in culture. It’s not good enough to tolerate differences, Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf said, but the community should celebrate differences amongst people. “How exciting and what a beautiful place we would live in.”
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"Angelica Hernandez, a student at Dos Pueblos High School, cried when “Everyone should be safe,” she said. “I don’t think it was the bullet that killed Lawrence. I don’t think it was the shooter that killed Lawrence. It was the society that’s built and structured in a heterosexual manner."
This crime is like gang violence, road rage, meth deals, schoolyard shootings, and so forth. The kid that murdered King is the product of a society where kids are either raised with no morals, or raise themselves because their parents (assuming they have parents who are married) are too busy working three jobs a day to show them right from wrong.
Blaming heterosexuality at large won't solve the problem, raising kids in such a way that they don't turn our like the kid who murdered King and recognizing WHY there are so many violent people being turned out by our society will mitigate this problem.
. As long as people continue to be unwilling to address root causes of violence, more violence will occurr.
billclausen (anonymous profile)
February 24, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why was Lawrence in Casa Pacifica in the first place? Instead of just blaming the shooter, dig deeper. Casa Pacifica is a place for abused, neglected and emotionally unstable children. Did his parents abuse him because he was gay? Or did they consider his homosexuality as emotional instability?
jessica_jones (anonymous profile)
February 25, 2008 at 4:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
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