Our society is increasingly surrounded by acts, images, and messages of violence. For instance, videogames and the media glorify violence. Violence does not discriminate between ethnicity and class. Yet despite that (excluding the war), most media focus and highlight the violence in the inner cities and on people of color. Movies and mass media perpetuate the notion that violence only occurs in places like Watts and amongst Blacks and Latinos. Further adding to this cycle of violence are the producers of such things as toy guns and violent video games. Students are bombarded with the notions that violence is not only cool, but also a part of their everyday life. At 99th Street Elementary School, 2nd grade students from Kimberly Min's class and 5th grade students from Laurence Tan's class finally decided enough was enough. In an attempt to create a safe school community, the 2nd and 5th graders organized themselves and took matters into their own hands.

With the recent events of global and community violence, the students voiced their opinions and created actions toward change. At 99th Street School, numerous ice cream trucks would prey on students for their business after school. Droves of students would crowd around after school at these trucks throwing away whatever spare change and dollar bills they had. Among the candy and ice cream on the shelves were plastic toy guns. In a couple of instances, students purchased the guns and brought them on to the campus. Being that 99th Street School is a zero tolerance campus, the students were reprimanded. That instance brought to life the greater problem surrounding the community at large.

As the issues were discussed among both classes, the students started to make many connections to larger contexts. Students wrestled with the problems of buying toy guns and its eventual message of violence. Some students argued that if a person started to play with guns when they were little, then they might start to play with real guns later in life. Our community is already exposed to so much violence that the students were able to make the connections of how these toy guns contributed to the perpetual cycle of violence. Most recently, a former student and employee of our school was shot and killed near the school. His death, coupled with the recent war, heightened student awareness about the problems surrounding violence and safety at our school and in our community. Realizing this, the students felt they had to do something about the issue.

Many different ideas were discussed by both Ms. Min's and Mr. Tan's classes. The students decided to work together to try and make changes. The students organized and planned a rally in front of the school. They created signs that had messages of "no more guns," “no mas pistolas,” “stop selling guns," and other messages promoting nonviolence and safe schools. They chanted in both English and Spanish and as they marched up and down the street.

The first day of the protest, the ice cream truck left and more students became intrigued by the two classes' efforts. As other students joined the struggle, they became more aware of the issue. The students considered the first rally successful because the ice cream truck left and they were able to get their message out to other students who joined the effort and decided not to buy from the ice cream trucks. The students continued the pressure by hosting other rallies on the following Fridays in an attempt to let others know that they were serious and would not go away. Students urged other students not to buy from the ice cream trucks. As successful as the demonstrations were, many students were keen to the issue of violence at large.

Students realized that the ice cream trucks were only a small part of the problem. Many students realized that they could easily get toy guns almost anywhere: liquor stores, grocery stores, malls, and other nearby vendors. While some 5th grade students questioned why they never saw ice cream trucks in areas, such as, Beverly Hills. They recognized that the more affluent neighborhoods could keep the ice cream trucks away because of their political clout. While the issue of social economic status related to a lot of other topics discussed in class, the focus was still on the immediate concern, the ice cream trucks.

While some students started to question the effectiveness of their tactics, others decided to take their movement to the next level. Ms. Min's class wrote letters to Mayor Hahn about this problem. Mr. Tan's class continued to work on a plan to address the toy manufacturers and increase the awareness of others to boycott the purchase and manufacture of toy guns. The driving force for the students' ambitions were based upon their idea of what a safe school should be like.

The students have not been strangers to acts of violence around their community. The results of an informal poll showed that most students felt the safest at either their school or home (with school having a slight edge over homes). The students realized that the sale of toy guns at the school hindered school safety and went to great lengths to do something about it.

^tcla

Kimberly Min is a teacher at 99th Street Elementary and a UCLA Urban Educator Fellow. She is also a member of Teachers for Social Justice (TSJ) and Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ). Laurence Tan is a teacher at 99th Street Elementary in LAUSD and a member of CEJ and Youth Organizing Communities in San Diego (YOC), and co-founder of Bamboo Lane Arts and Community Action Project.

In this issue, also check out "Implementing a Social Justice Curriculum" by Laurence Tan