Collegio Online

Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: AP Students mourn during the aftermath of what state legislators are calling a hate crime shooting at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, Calif., that occurred on Tuesday, Feb. 12.

At about 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, police say, Brandon McInerney walked into a computer lab at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, Calif., and shot 15-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King in the head.

King was taken to St. John's Regional Medical Center, where he was declared brain dead. He was kept on life support until Feb. 14 to preserve his organs for donation.

Reports say that in the weeks before the slaying, King had announced to his classmates that he was gay. Until the shooting, King endured harassment from a group of boys including McInerney.

McInerney is now being held on $770,000 bail and is being charged as an adult. In 2002, California voters approved Proposition 21, which gives prosecutors the option to charge defendants 14 years old or older as adults. McInerney faces 50 years to life in prison, and an extra one to three years if he is convicted of a hate crime in the case.

Shortly after King was pronounced dead, Mike Eng, a California assemblyman, introduced a diversity bill that would require classes on diversity and tolerance in California schools. This mandatory curriculum would be called tolerance education.

The proposed bill, the California Diversity Bill, should be passed in all states for every school public and private. To prevent instances such as the killing of Lawrence King and others, including Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old Colorado student who was robbed, beaten and left for dead, there needs to be some sort of educational program that teaches tolerance and acceptance at a young age.

There is no doubt that the gay rights movement has come a long way in recent years, but there is obviously still a long way to go. The California diversity bill should be the first action for change.

Every state should pass similar bills. Educating young people about the benefits of acceptance and tolerance at a young age would greatly reduce, if not fully eliminate, violence and discrimination in schools.

It is unfathomable that children think that killing someone is a solution to fear and ignorance. But more important is the fact that Brandon McInerney and Lawrence King represent two different ends of the spectrum.

More young people are becoming open about their sexuality at a younger age because of the decline of the stigma attached to being homosexual. King was one of these young people who refused to live a lie because of other people's closed minds.

In a perfect world, none should face oppression or discrimination because of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender. But we do not live in a perfect world.

For change to be made, all of us must do our part to protect and promote the rights of others. Action is the first step in the struggle for equality for everyone.

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