Killings Teach Painful Lesson. Gregory Freeman. P-D 5/7/1995

Headline: KILLINGS TEACH PAINFUL LESSON
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., May 7, 1995
Section: NEWS, Page: 6B, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

A MURAL PAINTED by students covers a wall along a stairwell at New City School.
The mural is multicultural, covered with paintings of Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Truman and others. The diversity of the wall is like the school, which values and takes pride in its diversity. Its sensitivity to the concerns of others is among its strengths. Our son is a graduate.
I wasn't surprised, then, that the school held a meeting to talk about the shooting in March of architect Jeffrey Krewson, what the incident meant and how individuals at the school and in the Central West End neighborhood had been affected. The school is a block from Krewson's home, where he was killed during a would-be carjacking as his family watched in horror. Krewson had been a friend and supporter of the school.

Krewson's friends still grieve.
One woman broke into tears as she discussed the anger she felt at his killer. "I know I shouldn't feel this way, " she said, "but I just want to blow up jails where people are who can do these kinds of things."
Said a woman who lives a couple of houses from the Krewsons: "I have to explain to my kids every day what has happened and I'm not sure I understand it myself. . . . Not a day goes by that I don't think about" the Krewsons.

Some people had said they heard from friends in St. Louis County who urged them to move from the city.
"Of course, why would I do that?" asked one woman. "This was a random act of violence. It could have happened in Ladue as easily."

The death touched others in unexpected ways.
   A student intern at the school who knew Krewson said he had attended his funeral. "I had no idea what I was in for, " said the intern. "As I walked through there, I seriously got lots of looks of accusation directed at me. I'm a black man and the person who did the shooting was a black man. That's all we have in common, but that was enough for some people. I went there grieving and left there hurt." He skipped the burial.
   A black woman who attended heard people speculate about who she was, wondering if she was related to the man charged in the shooting.
   The intern said he was affected in other ways, such as when he went to a school supply store. A white worker in the store initially refused to let him in until he'd answered all sorts of questions, like who he was, what he wanted, what he was doing there. After he mentioned New City School, she let him in and apologized. She had been thinking about the Krewson case and was afraid when he had approached, she told him.

Several whites attending the meeting said they were surprised by that reaction. "I never thought of this as a racial matter at all, " said one man. "How could anyone make such an assumption because the guy who did this killing was black?"

The discussion quickly turned to the news media. The media are largely responsible, many agreed.
   News coverage of blacks is generally not balanced, they said. Viewers see many negatives that involve blacks but rarely are treated to the positives. Blacks show up in crime stories but not nearly as often in stories about everyday life, they agreed. Small wonder that people who don't know many blacks are afraid of them.
   The Post-Dispatch and KSDK (Channel 5) were roundly criticized for paying so much attention to Krewson's murder while giving considerably less attention to two other murders that also took place that day.
   "What does it mean when we see people's lives valued so differently?" asked Ron Jackson, executive director of the National Conference here, facilitator for the gathering. "Does it mean that some people are valuable in society and others are not?"
   Yes, many in the group agreed. Directly or indirectly, the news media had decided that some lives were more important than other lives.

Like a pebble dropping into a pond, sending waves in all directions, a tragic situation has made an impact on more people than might be expected.
   The shooting touched countless St. Louisans on many levels, concluded Tom Hoerr, the school's director: on a cultural level, a community level and even a family level.
   "We'll never be able to resolve why this happened, " Hoerr said. The important thing "is for us not to turn our back on what happened. If we can learn from this tragedy, we can somehow become better people as a result of it."
   We can learn, certainly. But what a painful way to learn a lesson.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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