We play a game in some classes where we list historical dates and others guess what happened. We often learn that revolutions tend to happen in the summer, and that school shootings cluster around the 3rd week in April. A brief list of mass shootings current in the minds of myself and my classes.
- Columbine 4/20/1999
- Virginia Tech 4/16/2007
- Oklahoma City Bombing 4/19/1995
- Waco Texas Branch Davidans 4/19/93
- Ruby Ridge in August, but when the American militia movement was born.
- 2014 Isla Vista Killings 5/23/14
I include Isla Vista, because I sometimes hear only white men perpetrate mass killings. Asian men committed Virginia Tech and Isla Vista. Elliot Rogers was biracial, but also the first identified “incel” shooter.
T.S. Elliot was right. “April is the cruelest month.”
