WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU B5
made, how often is it taken
seriously? How are we to know
when one man keeping quiet
and staying to himself will lead
to mass murder?
Of course, many people are
most interested in getting rid of
the guns so often used in these
mass attacks. Fine, but I suspect
that someone who’d shoot in a
classroom full of first-graders or
a store filled with people
shopping on a Saturday
afternoon would find another
way to kill.“What we find is that active
shooters will adapt their tactics
to whatever changes law
enforcement makes,” said Al
Phoenix, a law enforcement
officer featured in the
Homeland Security video. “A t
Columbine, they used explosives
in addition to firearms. At the
Aurora theater, the attacker
used ballistic gear. These
attackers learn from the past.
Law enforcement does the
same.”
Let’s hope so, because
knowing more about why these
men kill would help develop
better intervention. You might
stop an attack — regardless of
the weapon. And this time, we
may have an opportunity to
learn something.
Unlike in so many mass
shootings, the suspected killer
in the El Paso attack was
apprehended alive. So often,
these men kill themselves or are
killed by law enforcement trying
to stop them. But in this case,
he’s alive, and there are reports
that he is talking.
Maybe we’ll get some
answers. Maybe we won’t like
them.
[email protected] To read previous columns, go to
washingtonpost.com/milloy.been to school.
The report noted that
44 percent were employed while
38 percent were unemployed.
Interesting tidbits, but this
still doesn’t tell me why.
The active-shooting videos
encourage us to be on the
lookout at our jobs and schools
for odd behaviors — actions and
attitudes that indicate a
colleague is on the path to
violence.
Dennis Cobb, a law
enforcement official featured in
the Department of Homeland
Security video, says that “the
people most likely to recognize
that are the people who are
most tuned in to what is normal
behavior for that area.”
So we watch our co-workers
and our classmates and our
family members, and we look for
what?
“What we are asking people to
do is share observations about
relatively small subsets of
behavior because we’ve learned
from experience that it is
unlikely that one person will be
in a position to know
everything,” s aid Gene
Deisinger, a behavioral
psychologist also featured in the
Homeland Security video. “We
are asking people to share
information about things that
will not in fact turn out to be
highly problematic, and we need
for people to know that’s okay
and will not result in adverse
actions that are not merited.”
That could look like someone
constantly complaining about
the job or school.
“What we are looking for is
the unreasonable griever, the
person who won’t let go and
engages in behavior to take
harmful action in response to
that grievance,” Deisinger said.
“Ofttimes people that come to
our attention are referred to as
‘injustice collectors.’ It’s not just
one grievance, it’s a series of
grievances over time.”
But what if that person
doesn’t complain, doesn’t say
anything at all? How often are
official complaints made
warning that someone may be
an active shooter? And if one isMILLOY FROM B1tory that should be taught here. I
think it was a great, great service
that [Northam] did” i n taking it
down.
Members of the United Daugh-
ters of the Confederacy had urged
the authority to leave the memo-
rial in place. A single protester
was on hand to greet Northam on
Tuesday, holding a sign that said
“Save the monuments.” He called
out “Governor Blackface” but was
met with silence and slipped
away during the officials’ re-
marks.
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck,
who is African American, took
pains to point out in an interview
that the city had nothing to do
with the decision to remove the
letters from the arch.
“I have mixed feelings about
it,” Tuck said. “Only because I
represent a city that has 136,000
people, black and white citizens.
There are some who feel that...
there are movements afoot to
remove all monuments to the
Confederacy and trying to erase
their history.”
But what’s important, he said,
is to tell “the complete and accu-
rate story” of history, and the
monument itself did not do that.
“A nd, important for me per-
sonally,” he added, “had Jefferson
Davis and like-minded citizens
won the Civil War, then I very
likely would not be the mayor of
the city of Hampton.”
[email protected]In many ways it stopped our
efforts to move forward as a
nation,” said Rex Ellis, an associ-
ate director of the National Mu-
seum of African American His-
tory and Culture who also serves
as a trustee for the Fort Monroe
Authority.
Ellis said taking down the Da-
vis memorial was “the first signif-
icant” r emoval of a Virginia Con-
federate memorial that he was
aware of. Virginia has more Con-
federate monuments than any
other state.
The arch at Fort Monroe was
especially poignant, Ellis said,
because of the importance of the
site. Not only did the first Afri-
cans arrive here, but their en-
slaved descendants built the fort
itself. And then, in the early days
of the Civil War, three black men
escaped slavery and came to the
federal troops at Fort Monroe
seeking sanctuary.
The commanding general re-
fused to return the men — Frank
Baker, Sheppard Mallory and
James To wnsend — to the slave
owners who came to get them.
After that, thousands of African
Americans made their way to
Fort Monroe to escape bondage
during the war.
“That makes this a significant
space and site to discuss African
American history in a way that
few historic sites can,” Ellis said.
Honoring Davis in that setting, he
said, was “anathema to the his-vowed to stay in office and work
for racial equity. In the months
since, he has met with African
American leaders and communi-
ty members, sought funding for
areas such as education and af-
fordable housing and drawn at-
tention to issues such as maternal
mortality among black women.
“I think it’s a work in progress,”
Kanoyton said of Northam, add-
ing that she “applauded” him for
leading the effort to remove the
Davis memorial. “He’s listening.
He’s acting on the requests.”
In his remarks, Northam said
the original archway was part of
an effort to paint a “revisionist”
version of history. “Many Vir-
ginians, including me, still have
much to learn and relearn about
the true and painful history of
our commonwealth,” he said.
Northam had written in April
to the authority that oversees the
site, asking that the archway be
taken down. After review and
public hearings, trustees decided
to leave the decorative arch but
remove the letters. They came off
on Friday.
New signs near the archway
tell how it was built at a time
when Virginians were embarking
on “massive resistance” to avoid
the integration of public schools,
as part of an effort to intimidate
and to glorify an oppressive past.
“This monument was a way of
making a statement about the
‘lost cause’ never being forgotten.he was literally for slavery. So to
have this taken down before the
commemoration is monumen-
tal.”
This month, the common-
wealth will host commemorative
events at Fort Monroe to mark
the 400th anniversary of the
arrival of the first Africans — just
as it noted the anniversary of
representative democracy at
Jamestown last week.
The 50-foot ceremonial arch
was erected at Fort Monroe by the
U.S. Army in 1956 and paid for by
the United Daughters of the Con-
federacy. It proclaimed “Jefferson
Davis Memorial Park” above the
stone casemate where Davis was
held prisoner by federal troops
after the Civil War.
But the fort — completed in
1834 and not decommissioned
until 2011 — occupies even more
ancient ground: It was originally
Point Comfort, fortified by Eng-
lish colonists in 1609 and used as
an arrival point for ships headed
up the James River to James-
town.
In late August 1619, a ship
called the White Lion put “20 and
odd” African prisoners ashore
here, ushering in the era of slav-
ery in what became the United
States, according to historic doc-
uments.
“To have a memorial glorifying
the president of the Confederacy,
a person who worked to maintain
slavery, o n the same site on which
enslaved Africans both first ar-
rived here and were later freed, is
not just inappropriate. It is offen-
sive,” Northam said Tuesday at
the ceremony.
Northam has been under a
cloud since February, when a
racist photo from his 1984 medi-
cal school yearbook came to light.
He f irst took responsibility for the
photo, which showed one person
in blackface and another in Ku
Klux Klan garb, then disavowed it
— but admitted to wearing black-
face for a dance contest the same
year.
Many Democrats have called
on him to resign, but Northam
MEMORIAL FROM B1
Davis’s
name is cut
before key
anniversary
COURTLAND MILLOYWe know about the men
who kill, but not why
BY MARISSA J. LANGShe keeps the sign somewhere
she can get to it quickly, some-
where she can go when the time
comes to pull it out again — for
another rally, another protest, an-
other vigil mourning another
mass shooting.
On Tuesday, Caron Martinez
carried it from her Northern Vir-
ginia home to the White House,
where she stood with anti-
gun-violence demonstrators,
with the sign high above her
head.
She got the sign shortly after 20
elementary schoolchildren were
killed in 2012 inside Sandy Hook
Elementary School. Over the past
seven years, she has repaired rips
and folds, retaped corners and
protected the message on its face:
“A nother teacher against” mili-
tary-style weapons.
“It’s vintage now,” she said,
standing under the shade of a tree
at Lafayette Square. “We really
thought then that all those chil-
dren, that it would be the turning
point. How could anybody be
okay with what happened to
them? But here we are seven years
later.”
A hastily organized protest led
by groups including Voto Latino,
MoveOn.org and the American
Federation of Te achers brought
the crowd to the White House’s
doorstep to condemn white su-
premacy, gun violence and hate
on the heels of violent shooting
attacks that left more than 30
dead and scores more wounded
in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio.
Just before it began, more than
100 civil rights and anti-
gun-violence organizations
signed a letter calling on lawmak-
ers to pass stricter gun laws.“Members of Congress can no
longer look away as communities
of color and religious minorities
are murdered with impunity,” the
statement reads.
Organizers and speakers called
out a list of politicians and or-
ganizations they said have al-
lowed white supremacy, hate and
violence to spread. Chief among
them, several said, are PresidentTrump, Sen. Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and U.S.
Attorney General William P. Barr.
“If this were an ISIS or an
al-Qaeda threat, we would have
already seen decisive action by
the Department of Justice and the
FBI. How many more people
must die before they finally act
and protect us?” said Farhana
Khera, executive director of civilrights group Muslim Advocates.
But Sherrilyn Ifill, president of
the NAACP’s Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, reminded the
crowd that racism didn’t begin
with Trump’s election.
“He has licensed it, he incites it,
he encourages it, but he did not
create it,” I fill said.
Tuesday’s protest came one day
after Trump denounced “racism,
bigotry and white supremacy” in
nationally televised remarks that
critics said failed to account for
the role of guns and his rhetoric
in the El Paso attack.
Before opening fire at a Wal-
mart on Saturday, the El Paso
shooter is believed to have posted
an online manifesto railing
against a “Hispanic invasion” of
the United States. Officials are
continuing to investigate it.
Trump began his 2016 presi-
dential campaign by describing
Mexican immigrants as criminals
and “rapists.” In the years since,
he has described immigration
from Latin America as an inva-
sion and a threat.
The president is expected to
visit El Paso and Dayton on
Wednesday in appearances that
have spurred calls for protests.“Our diversity is what makes us
great — he should get the memo,”
said Kris Brown, president of the
Brady Campaign. “One message is
loud and clear: It i s about the hate
and the hateful rhetoric emanat-
ing from the White House, and it
is also about our lax gun laws. We
are arming hate in this country.”
Demonstrators standing just
beyond the White House fence
held signs in English and Spanish
that read, “Be on the right side of
history. Unite against white su-
premacy.” Others said, “Disarm
hate” a nd, “Take action not sides.”
Sara Blanco, who attended the
rally during her lunch break with
a handmade sign that read,
“#SomosElPaso,” said she was
drawn to the demonstration to be
around people rejecting hatred
and bigotry.
“El Paso really scared me be-
cause it seems like it was really
about this anti-immigrant, white-
supremacist sentiment,” said
Blanco, whose father is an immi-
grant from Venezuela. “There’s
something really disturbing
about seeing these groups being
targeted for who they are — and
who they are is you.”
[email protected]BY DAN MORSE
AND DONNA ST. GEORGEAn outside law firm hired by
the Montgomery County school
system to investigate how a 2018
sexual assault case at Damascus
High School was handled has told
school officials it will need more
time to complete the work.
The firm, WilmerHale, expects
to finish the examination by
Sept. 30, said Derek Turner, a
schools spokesman. The investi-
gation, underway since April 29,
was originally set to finish by
June 30.
WilmerHale’s work at Damas-
cus goes beyond the 2018 inci-
dent, which rocked the high
school of 1,300 students and the
football-proud community
around it. A group of junior-varsi-
ty football players was charged
with using a broomstick to attack
four teammates before practice
inside a locker room. All of the
players involved were 14 or 15
years old.
The outside attorneys are re-
viewing any other reports, dating
to the fall of 2017, of sexual as-
saults, bullying or hazing within
all of Damascus High’s s ports pro-
grams, according to a written
agreement between the firm and
the school system. The attorneys,
who are reviewing documents
and interviewing staff members,
also will assess whether the
school had procedures in place to
safeguard against any kind of cul-
ture built around violent, hazing-
type incidents.
The firm will be paid up to
$250,000 for its work.
“They have expertise in this
kind of work, and this is a very
important subject,” Turner said.
“We want to be thorough and get
this right.”
The investigation extends in a
limited way beyond Damascus.
The school system selectedthree of its 25 high schools from
other parts of the county, and has
asked the law firm to review any
incidents of sexual assault, bully-
ing or hazing that may have oc-
curred at those schools since the
fall of 2017.
With nearly 900 lawyers
around the world, WilmerHale’s
practice includes examining sex-
ual misconduct and student-ath-
lete issues for academic institu-
tions. One of its attorneys work-
ing on the Montgomery County
project, Danielle Conley, “ regular-
ly conducts sensitive internal in-
vestigations” of alleged sexual
misconduct within organizations,
according to the firm’s website.
The Montgomery incident oc-
curred on the afternoon of Oct. 31.
As members of the Damascus JV
football team were suiting up for
their last practice of their season,
four of their teammates entered
the freshman section of the locker
room, turned off the lights andguarded the door behind them,
according to court records filed in
the case.
One by one, four of the victims
were wrestled to the floor. One of
the victims had the broomstick
pushed into him several times
through his underwear, accord-
ing to prosecutors. Another had
his pants and underwear pulled
down and was poked with the
broomstick. The two others also
were attacked with the broom-
stick, police said.
No coaches were in the locker
room, which had gone unsuper-
vised during a 25-minute period.
That night, one of the victim’s
fathers called the JV coach and
told him his son had been at-
tacked, according to prosecutors’
statements. The JV coach called
the varsity coach, who reported
the matter to Damascus High’s
athletic director and principal,
according to authorities.
Just before 9 p.m. Oct. 31, thecoach shared, via text messages
with the principal and athletic
director, that one player had been
attacked and pinned, that his
pants had been pulled down and
that he’d been poked with a
broomstick, according t o a copy of
the text messages reviewed by
The Washington Post.
None of the school officials
called the police that night. And
the next morning, the school’s
principal launched her own in-
vestigation, during which school
administrators interviewed sus-
pects and victims before detec-
tives were brought in.
In May, frustrated parents de-
manded answers from top elected
school system leaders during an
emotional public reckoning at a
school board meeting.
In the fallout since, the school
system removed the school’s ath-
letic director, Joseph Doody, and
its JV coach, Vincent Colbert. The
principal at the time of the as-saults, Casey Crouse, has moved
to a job at the school system
headquarters. The varsity coach,
Eric Wallich, remained in place.
All of the four had declined
repeated requests for interviews
and comment about the allega-
tions.
WilmerHale has specifically
been asked to look at supervision
and “review reporting protocols”
for such incidents at Damascus.
Earlier this year, schools Super-
intendent Jack Smith said the
school system’s internal review
“concluded that there is insuffi-
cient evidence at this time to
suggest undue delay in reporting
the incident.” Smith said the
school officials were trying to as-
sess an evolving situation, and
had exchanged additional, un-
specified communications that
Smith said “didn’t indicate a sex-
ual assault” had occurred.
[email protected]
[email protected]THE DISTRICT
Near the White House,
a familiar rallying cry
MARYLAND
Outside investigation of Damascus High assault case to take additional time
GREGORY S. SCHNEIDER/THE WASHINGTON POST
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), near the arch that once bore Jefferson Davis’s name, addresses a
gathering at Fort Monroe. In 1619, the area was a landing site for enslaved African Americans.MARLENA SLOSS/THE WASHINGTON POST
On Tuesday at Lafayette Square, Caron Martinez wields a sign she
first obtained in 2012 after the Sandy Hook tragedy.How are we to know
when one man staying
to himself will lead
to mass murder?