Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080337
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KEN HARAGUCHI
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This incident has been one of the saddest and most regrettable for a victim and for American society since I came to the United States.
We all know that fatal shootings are not unusual in this country. Tom R. Reid, correspondent for The Washington Post, cites "about 10,000 handgun killings last year" in the United States. This incident, however, could have been just a common conversation at the door in a Halloween season if society were more civilized.
This unfortunate shooting contains three elements of cause. First, Yoshihiro Hattori, the 16-year-old victim, did not understand what "freeze" meant when Rodney Peairs shouted it. Second are gun-control laws. Does it really have to be so easy to possess a gun? Finally, the fact is that people in the '90s still live in a Western-movie society. Who is going to protect you if you don't?
It is not difficult for me, as a Japanese college student living in this country for six years, to imagine that Hattori would not know the word "freeze" as slang within his two-month stay here. As a newspaper reported, Webb Haymaker, a friend who was with Hattori, stopped moving when Peairs commanded "freeze" while Hattori kept walking.
Japanese students are supposed to take English classes for six years during their junior-high and high-school years in Japan. But American slang is not taught. That, however, does not give Peairs a right to shoot an unarmed boy to kill. In a way, Peairs is also a victim of the frontier-philosophized society that the federal and local governments have failed to civilize.
Peairs did not even try to exchange a few words after the victim told him "we're here for the party." According to a few articles, Mrs. Peairs answered the door when the two boys knocked. She was startled, so she told her husband to get a gun. It was Halloween, so Hattori was wearing a tuxedo with a white jacket, according to news accounts. Is this country so dangerous that we must use a gun when costumed children appear at the door at Halloween?
Maybe it is that dangerous, and Peairs absolutely did the right thing in shooting the boy. However, it should not be tolerated that American society makes people think it is the right thing to shoot an unknown visitor at the door.
A few policies might be applied to fix the way it is, including gun laws and education to civilize every single youth who will discipline the next generation. None of the policies would be easy to implement because there are so many urgent problems to solve. But this one cannot wait any longer.
Many countries, including Japan, have looked up to the United States as a powerful leader. Its generosity, opportunities and freedom always have been attractive to millions of people around the world. I am one of those. But since I came to this country, I have faced many disappointments. No country is, of course, ever perfect. Every single nation has problems, but a problem always underlies a success.
The economic rise in Japan is not an exception. Fred Hiatt, a Post correspondent and author of a book titled "The Secret Sun: A Novel of Japan," has the book's character describe Japan: "Let them keep their trade surplus if it comes with two-hour commutes in sweltering cattle cars, with fifteen-hour workdays, with pitiful playgrounds of asphalt and cement." They have been paying a big price giving up a humane lifestyle from ruins of the defeat of World War II for economic power.
In contrast, what underlies the United States' success? Is it high unemployment rates, because of its generosity to welcomed immigrants and toleration of illegal workers? Or is it 10,000 victims of guns because of its freedom? Human life is too expensive a price for a country to pay for its success. The chaos of constructing this country with high risks for lives was over a long time ago.
Freedom is available for only civilized societies and people who can manage it. Just as nobody wants to leave a knife near a baby, nobody should give a person a gun when he or she is living in a society that allows a slaying like Hattori's to happen. If the United States is going to stay with the current frontier philosophy, we should consider ourselves either a victim or bereaved.
Ken Haraguchi, a Japanese who has been in this country for six years, is a senior majoring in news-editorial and public relations at Radford University.
by CNB