Deadly Lessons Understanding Lethal School Violence (2003) / Chapter Skim
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7. What Did Ian Tell God?: School Violence in East New York
7. What Did Ian Tell God?: School Violence in East New York
Pages 198-246
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From page 198... ...
On November 25, 1991,Jason Bentley shot a teacher, Robert Anderson, and shot and killed a fellow student, Daryl Sharpe. On February 26, 1992, Khalil Sumpter shot and killed Tyrone Sinkler and Ian Moore.
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We spoke formally and informally with many people who were aware of the incidents and/or life in East New York in the period of interest. Formal interviews were conducted with 55 people, including Khalil Sumpter, lason Bentley, and Joseph Fernandez, then Chancellor of New York City Schools.
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In addition to interviews, a number of outstanding books have been written on the East New York community. Luck was with us: journalistteacher Greg Donaldson's book, The Ville: Kids and Cops in Urban America,4 based on his experiences in Brownsville and East New York in the 19911992 period, included detailed reporting on the neighborhood of East New York, Thomas Jefferson High School, as well as the two episodes of school violence described here.
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In October of lason's freshman year at Thomas Jefferson High School, a small dispute began. As he recalled, a friend had tried to "talk to a girl." When she said she wasn't interested, the boy called her a "bitch." She reported this to her brother, incorrectly naming lason's older brother, lermaine, as the person who had "disrespected" her.
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Another hit Robert Anderson, a teacher who had stepped out of his classroom to investigate a noise that sounded like firecrackers.~3 lason Bentley ran from the scene but was quickly apprehended by the police. Daryl Sharpe was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead a few hours later.~4 Robert Anderson was also taken to a hospital and treated for the wound from which he would eventually recover.~5 At Thomas Jefferson High School, Principal Carol Beck called a special assembly of the students and announced what had happened.
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The Day the Mayor · · ~ Like lason Bentley, Khalil Sumpter grew up in the violent atmosphere of East New York.25 Like lason, Khalil was bright and did well in school, falling off at approximately the same age. Donaldson described Khalil's behavior at Thomas Jefferson High School, noting, "His records show that he is a very smart kid who has decided that academic achievement is counterproductive to his goal of gaining and holding props."26 Instead, he was described as playing the role of a class clown.
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As he explained his situation, "You can put it off, but sooner or later you have to play your cards." Supplied with a gun by one of his friends, Khalil slipped into the school through a side door.28 He heard that Tyrone and his friend, Ian Moore, were "looking for you," an East New York euphemism for "search with intent to harm." Khalil ran into them on the second floor of the school. Fearing that they intended to shoot him, he pulled his gun and shot Tyrone in the head and Ian in the chest.
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From page 206... ...
He died two days later at Brookdale Hospital.34 Marlon was eulogized on March 4, one day after Ian, and two days after Tyrone Sinkler.35 A Thomas Jefferson teacher shared with us that there were actually five funerals that week for Jefferson students. In addition to Ian, Tyrone, and Marlon, he recalled that two others had died in unrelated events.36 The funeral of Ian Moore, held at St.
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These housing units were always separated in space, but the massive destruction of housing meant that they became separated by dead space, most starkly in the area next to Thomas Jefferson High School, which was universally referred to as the "dead zone."44
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208 N ~ ~ o I ~ o .' ~ o I o an.' .= .
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All of these problems were aggravated by the community's isolation. When Reverend Johnny Ray Youngblood was called to serve as minister of St.
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IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE SHOOTINGS Assessing Violence in New York City Schools The shootings at Thomas Jefferson High School were of interest to public health professionals, who had begun to conceptualize violence as a health problem. At the time, homicide was the leading cause of death among New York City youth 15-19 years old, and the second leading cause of death in that age group nationally.48 Obviously, the increase in violence among youth undermined well-being and diminished life expectancy.
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The plan included the following elements: · Metal detectors will be used on all school days at Thomas Jefferson, Erasmus Hall, George W Wingate, and Samuel T
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Perhaps the most innovative idea one that was proposed prior to the shootings as part of his efforts to respond to high levels of violencewas Chancellor Fernandez's idea to create 50 small schools, to replace very large schools like Thomas Jefferson, which had had as many as 4,000 students enrolled. Fernandez received substantial support from New York's business and foundation communities and was able to establish 40 new schools, often organized around innovative concepts.58 Building Social Cohesion A wide array of community efforts was undertaken to build social cohesion.
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By the end of the weekend, students were able to recognize that they did have something in common: they were all members of the Thomas Jefferson High School community. The idea that the behavior of each would reflect on all created a new foundation for cooperation.
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Adjudication of the Bentley Case Jason Bentley was initially charged with murder in the second degree, a charge that carried a minimum sentence of 5 years to life and a maximum sentence of 9 years to life. Bentley's case came before fudge Michael fuviler because of a question about the admissibility of a statement Bentley had made to the police.
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From the first, his lawyer, John Russell, emphasized that Khalil had committed the crimes because he feared for his life. Russell was joined by noted civil rights lawyer, William Kunstler, and his associate, Ron Kuby.
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Rather, his actions were explained by his manipulative and antisocial personality.68 The defense team of William Kunstler, John Russell, and Ron Kuby argued that Khalil had acted in self-defense, based on the perception that he was going to be harmed and possibly killed. Kuby told us that Bernard Goetz, the 1984 "subway killer," had established the legitimacy of being afraid in New York City, and this was a cornerstone of the defense.69 Khalil testified about his perception of the danger he faced.
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Egitto, who was known to favor long sentences, imposed the maximum sentence of 6 2/3 to 20 years in prison.79 Khalil was released on October 23, 1998. THE CONTEXT OF THE SHOOTINGS: THE NESTED SYSTEMS Ecological Transition and Its Impact The social milieu of East New York is, in no small measure, conditioned by physical processes of urban decay, exacerbated by cuts in essential municipal services in the early 1970s that were instituted well before New York City confronted any significant fiscal crisis.~° Firefighting services came under particularly careful scrutiny.
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Figure represents most severe to least severe loss of housing units in each area. SOURCE: Data from McCord and Freeman (1990~.
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Some Health Areas82 lost as much as 80 percent of housing units between 1970 and 1980. Note the concentration of heavy damage in the Brownsville-East New York section of Brooklyn.
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In 1990 both zip codes reported similar proportions of adults not in the workforce (29.8 percent) and virtually identical proportions of students having completed high school (respectively, 19.5 and 19.7 percent)
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Zip code 11207 seems the worst affected, and we attribute its markedly increased rates of homicide and syphilis and decreased rate of families with two parents to this pattern of decay and neglect. Thomas Jefferson High School was located in this particularly hard-hit area.
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Many similar stories were recounted to emphasize the multiple levels of disconnect triggered by the violence in the streets. The Culture of Violence: The Street Ballet lane Jacobs, in her classic book The Death and Life of Great American Cities developed the image of the "street ballet" created by neighbors on an urban block: The stretch of Hudson Street where I live is each day the scene of an intricate sidewalk ballet.
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"'Put your hand down. I told you not to move your fuckin' hand.' The next thing you know, they have your old lady up on the roof and they really are makin' her suck their dicks."89 The Culture of Violence: The Youth Culture A key issue in understanding the violence at Thomas Jefferson High School is understanding the extent to which it fits into the pattern of the elaborate street ballet that was going on in East New York.
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This is highly reminiscent of what happened among gunslingers in the Wild West, who lived with the fear of the youthful challengers who would, one day, defeat them. Part of the power of a street ballet lies in the fact that its symbols are understood by all who participate, and thus a given act triggers an appropriate next action.
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That's why you need a crew. That's how you act when you live around here, and that is why so many brothers are in jail."90 In general, these kinds of challenges lead to "beef." East New York was often described as a tense, hostile atmosphere, in which people always had beef with each other.
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226 DEADLY LESSONS: UNDERSTANDING LETHAL SCHOOL VIOLENCE made the point that he thought people would always "catch beef." He thought the key was knowing what to do, how to fight, how to scare someone, how to get the message across that "you are not a punk."94 Donaldson made much the same point to us, describing how adroitly Sharron Corley, the teen star of his book, handled dangerous fellows who often posed a tremendous threat to him.95 The youths who lacked social skills, physical strength and agility, and intelligence were least likely to be able to employ these alternative strategies and most likely to be caught up in situations, either as victim or assailant. Another corollary of the confrontation rule is that danger was highly localized, even in the East New York setting.
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Carol Beck's impressive effort at reanimating Thomas Jefferson High School provides a case in point. She generally directed her efforts at creating a positive alternative to the streets.
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By contrast, the adults usually focused on failing parents, rather than on the concept proposed by the young people that a whole generation had disconnected from another generation. Khalil Sumpter's mother reflected that her son's growing terror failed to make an impression on her because she couldn't imagine the kinds of goings-on that he was describing.l04 The confrontation-reputation system and the disconnection from the adult world worked synergistically to create enormous isolation for the young people.
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The New York Times conducted focus groups with 19 Thomas Jefferson students in the aftermath of the Sumpter shooting.~06 The reporters opened the conversation by asking the participants if they knew people who had been shot. These opening responses set the pattern: Mariana Bryant: Last night we was looking in my junior high school yearbook and my friend pointed out a number of people in that book that was dead.
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Ecology and the Street Ballet We have suggested that East New York was the product of contagious urban decay. The loss of housing, the displacement of large segments of the community, and the increasing isolation of East New York from the rest of the city all contributed to the conditions that resulted in the shootings at Thomas Jefferson High School.
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complement those defined by the strong ties created by membership in an ethnic group, an age cohort, one's occupation, family structure, place of residence, and so on.~3 In East New York, a principal effect of nearly three decades of contagious urban decay, from the early 1960s into 1990, was to disconnect the youth from the social structures that would ensure entry to the adult worlds of work and family-building. Put another way, not only was the East New York community marginalized from the larger city, but also the youth of the community were isolated from the adults.
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232 DEADLY LESSONS: UNDERSTANDING LETHAL SCHOOL VIOLENCE adults in the community. The adults labeling every young person a hoodlum and distancing themselves from the youth.
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Reverend Youngblood said of the Sumpter shooting that, as a man of God, "I have to look for the God factor. Maybe God allowed the violence to get out of hand so that we would finally pay attention to violence and young people." Certainly, the school shootings of 1991-1992 shook the neighborhood and the city, and the response was intense and widespread.
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Finally, an enormous number of these valiant young people were traumatized and like Khalil Sumpter suffer from trauma-related emotional disorders. One 1994 study of East New York junior high school students found that 50 percent had symptoms related to trauma.~7 The numbers would surely be higher for those born earlier who had lived through more of the violence epidemic.
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When we first talked, he was keenly aware of differences but pointed out a possible similarity. He commented, "I don't think [school violence]
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CONCLUSIONS The shootings at Thomas Jefferson High School were among the first to capture national attention and contributed greatly to the public perception of school safety and youth violence. At the beginning of this case study we cited the Thomas theorem, which holds that what one perceives
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School shootings are especially difficult phenomena to understand, and in searching for solutions one is often forced to distinguish between conflicting perceptions about what aspects of these tragic events are important and what aspects can or should be ignored. For example, are the shootings at Thomas Jefferson fundamentally and conceptually different from those at, say, Columbine because they occurred in a poor, minority, inner-city community?
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Thomas Jefferson High School was overwhelmed by the ambient violence in East New York in 1991-1992. Its teachers and administrators were not particularly active participants in any of the community efforts to deal with and prevent this violence.
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We are indebted to Reverend Youngblood, Greg Donaldson, Stephen Teich, Lester Wright, Commissioner Patrick Carroll, Jason Bentley, and Khalil Sumpter for their feedback on earlier drafts. At our own institution, John Oldham, lack Gorman, and Allan Rosenfield provided essential administrative oversight and support.
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New York Newsday, 11/26/91. 15New York Newsday, 11/26/91; Anderson returned to teach at Thomas Jefferson High School but was quickly given an unwanted transfer.
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Principal Beck had been hesitant to have them installed, even after the first shooting. According to several sources, there were no metal detectors at the school that day [Los Angeles Times, 2/27/91; NPR radio, 2/27/91; Bergen County Record, 3/1/92; fieldnotes]
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3The New York Times, 3/3/92. ~09Trial record, p.
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loathe New York Times, 6/10/01. ~~7Landsberg et al., 1999.
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2001 "East New York: A Neighborhood Reborn," The New York Times, June 10. Hurtado, P
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New York: AA Knopf. Time 1992 "Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn, New York," May 25.
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Youngblood, Reverend Johnny Ray Eulogy for Ian Moore, St. Paul Community Baptist Church, undated typescript.
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