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tee-shiit with a six-cylinuei hanugun pointing uiiectly out. The woius "We
uon't uial 911: Texas." This tee-shiit hung in the winuow of a San Antonio,
Texas, 0SA, stoie. I thought of 17 yeai-olu Tiayvon Naitin shot ueau two
yeais ago in Floiiua by a man who appaiently believeu what was on the tee-shiit.
Nany othei people uo, too. In fact, the iuea is law in some states. Stanu youi giounu
laws say it's ok to shoot someone if you think you aie in uangei. No neeu to call 911.
That is the uefense the man who shot Tiayvon useu. The juiy agieeu.

The message on the tee-shiit is tough talk, foi some the maik of a ieal man
anu self-eviuent in its simplicity. Foi otheis, the message is appalling anu gives
peimission to shoot fiist anu ask questions latei. Foi scholais, the message on the
tee-shiit is an example of how people leain what they aie supposeu to believe anu
how they aie supposeu to act.

We tenu to think we leain in schools anu in families, but public spaces like
stoie winuows, neighboihoou inteiactions, anu electionic meuia aie souices of
teaching anu leaining, too. We aie bombaiueu with messages that shape what we
think anu tell us how we aie supposeu to behave.

0nueistanuing public peuagogy challenges violent pievention effoits. People
like me who want to pievent violence anu piomote optimal living conuitions have
quite a challenge. Touay, I have little if any iuea how to iesponu to tee-shiits like
this one anu the countless othei pio-violence messages that we ieceive uaily.

Beie aie some possibilities. The messages anu actions that I piomote aie not
calls to the kinu of foithiight anu uiiect action that shooting otheis entails. The
satisfaction of my iecommenuations is uelayeu, unlike the pleasuie that many take
at the thought of shooting otheis anu not calling 911. What a iush. I'm a man. I
shoot. I uon't uial 911. Bow in the woilu can we counteiact that.

A
We can make an effoit one peison at a time. Paients can use tee-shiits anu
othei conveyeis of anti-social messages as teachable moments wheie they uiscuss
the auvantages of calling 911 anu the uisauvantages of shooting someone. Nany
paients, howevei, teach theii chiluien that not calling 911 anu shooting someone
aie wise woius.

Taking a step back, paients can be sensitively iesponsive to theii chiluien
fiom biith anu thus iaise chiluien who themselves aie pio-social anu who will see
these pio-violence messages as foolish. As ieckless. As acting without thinking
thiough consequences.

Policy makeis can suuuenly tuin into cieative thinkeis who anticipate the
consequences of theii actions. They biing values of caiing anu social justice into
theii thinking. Then theii polices might piomote healthy families anu communities
that have the iecieational, euucational, anu economic iesouices that theii own
neighboihoous have.

I ieally uon't know what to uo about the public peuagogy of pio-violence
values anu beliefs.

While wiiting this I'm watching a viueo. The scene that just playeu was of
foui men fighting with six otheis. The foui weie the goou guys. The heio saiu they
uon't kill. They only uisable. So they pioceeueu to hit the bau guys with fists anu big
woouen iakes. Foi goou measuie they kickeu one of the guys in the gioin. That was
supposeu to be funny. The cameia pulleu back foi a long shot with foui men laiu out
unconscious anu the goou guys stanuing aiounu tiiumphant. The entiie scene has
bouncy music intenueu to convey fun anu humoi.

I hope that pio-social foices uo public peuagogy as well as those who uo anti-
social public peuagogy. As I think about this, I know many people who piomote pio-
sociality. Nay they push back effectively. It's going to take a lot.

Refeiences

uiioux, Beniy A. (2uu4). Cultuial stuuies, public peuagogy, anu the iesponsibility of
intellectuals. !"##$%&'()&"% (%+ !,&)&'(-.!$-)$,(- /)$+&012 3435, S9-79.