Bowling for Columbine Page #11

As if the city had not been through

enough horror and tragedy

in the past two decades,

it was now home to a new record.

The youngest school shooting ever

in the United States.

On the morning of the shooting,

it only took the news helicopters and satellite

trucks a half-hour to show up on the scene.

They're checking the truck.

You know, we're doing one in 30 minutes again.

This evening about 7:00

will be a public memorial service.

We are expecting hundreds of people.

They will mourn the loss of Kayla, a tiny girl,

who loved pizza, teddy bears, and who

was taken away from us much too soon. Gina?

Good morning. The funeral home is passing out

tens of thousands of these pink ribbons

to support the young girl's family.

Today will be an emotional day, and has been

already, remembering little Kayla.

Jeff Rossen, Fox 2 News.

Nice job.

Yeah, Michelle,

we're having technical problems, OK?

Well, don't talk to me about it. Call our sat truck.

I need a haircut, man. I'm a pig.

A rug. Here we go.

Some too choked up even to speak about it.

There's a memorial service

scheduled here for 7:00 tonight.

We're live in Flint, Michigan, this afternoon.

Jeff Rossen, Q13, reports.

Thank you.

I kinda need it, don't I?

I have some, I just didn't put it in.

I didn't have a chance.

This man prayed for Kayla,

then let the balloon go.

I said the color picture,

not the black-and-white card.

Plenty of media here that covered Columbine.

There are some networks, especially,

that go from, unfortunately, tragedy to tragedy.

I feel bad for them, because that's all they see.

Tragedies.

Yeah, but we're just trying to crunch right now

for the five and the six.

Today we're feeding CNN and Fox.

The national media had

never visited Buell Elementary,

or the Beecher school district in which it sat,

or this part of Flint ever before.

And few, if any, of these reporters bothered

to visit it even when they were here now.

If they had ventured just a block away

from the school or the funeral home,

they might have seen a different kind of tragedy

that perhaps would contain some answers

as to why this little girl was dead.

For over 20 years, this impoverished area in

the home town of the world's largest corporation

had been ignored

as completely as it had been destroyed.

With 87% of the students living

below the official poverty line,

Buell and Beecher and Flint did not fit into

the accepted and widely circulated storyline

put forth by the nation's media...

That being the one about America

and its invincible economy.

The number one cause of death among

young people in this part of Flint was homicide.

The Flint Beecher football field

was sponsored by a funeral home.

The kids at Beecher

have won 13 state track championships.

But they've never had a home track meet

because around the football field

all they have is this dirt ring.

Years ago, someone here named the streets

in this part of town

after all the Ivy League schools,

as it they dreamed of better days

and something greater for themselves.

The children are doing well.

The faculty and staff are doing well.

But we don't forget. We don't forget.

I just don't want this to happen to anybody else,

you know.

I know. I know.

I don't want it to happen to anybody else either.

I thought it would um...

It's OK. It's OK.

It's OK.

It's OK.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

From my cold, dead hands...

Just as he did after the Columbine shooting,

Charlton Heston showed up in Flint

to have a big pro-gun rally.

Freedom has never seen greater peril,

nor needed you more urgently

to come to her defense than now.

Before he came to Flint,

Heston was interviewed

by The Georgetown Hoya about Kayla's death.

Even his own NRA website talked about it.

We wanted to let the NRA know

we haven't forgotten about Kayla Rolland.

How could they come?

They're rubbing our nose in it.

I was shocked and appalled

that they would come here.

Heston was asked

by a local reporter why he came to Flint

after the tragedy at Buell,

and what did the NRA

have to say about six-year-olds using guns.

We spend $21 million every year.

We teach it to... five- and six-year-olds.

We say, "If you see a gun, don't touch it.

Leave the room, call an adult."

And then Moses himself showed up.

- Right here in the city of Flint?

- Right here in Flint.

Were there people that wanted you to try

this child, or to even try him as an adult?

Oh, yeah.

There were people from all over America

that wrote and called and sent mail.

It was amazing to me.

Groups that were affiliated with the NRA,

groups that were...

you know, people that I'd call gun nuts...

writing and telling me

what a horrible thing it was

that I had admonished homeowners

in our country

to be careful about bringing weapons

into their home.

They wanted this little boy

hung from the highest tree.

I mean, there was such an undercurrent

of racism and hate and anger.

It was ugly.

That's a picture that the little boy

that was involved in the Buell school shooting...

Once he was brought back to our office...

about 15 minutes after the shooting took place,

I gave him some crayons and stuff

to kinda occupy him a little bit.

He came over and drew that picture for me.

I had pictures up behind my desk

that my children had drew for me.

He wanted to draw me one

to hang behind my desk.

This is what he drew for you?

What did he say this was?

- That's him at his house.

- That's him at his house right here?

And why did you decide to hang on to it?

Because of the gravity of the situation

and what had occurred.

He asked me to hang that behind my desk,

so I put it in a frame and that's where it'll stay.

Tamarla Owens was the mother

of the six-year-old boy.

In order to get food stamps and health care

for her children,

Tamarla was forced to work as part of the state

of Michigan's Welfare To Work program.

This program was so successful

in tossing poor people off welfare

that its founder, Gerald Miller, was soon hired

by the number one firm in the country

that states turn to

to privatize their welfare systems.

That firm... was Lockheed Martin.

With the Cold War over,

and no enemy left to frighten the public,

Lockheed had found

the perfect way to diversify

and the perfect way to profit from

people's fears, with an enemy closer to home:

poor black mothers like Tamarla Owens.

So you've got a one-parent family,

and the mother's traveling an hour, an hour

and a half to work, and then to come home.

How does that help a community?

But that's part of the state making parents

responsible, making them work...

Welfare To Work.

That's a program that ought to be stopped,

because it really has no merit.

I think it adds more to the problem

than it does to solve it.

Really? You're the sheriff

and you feel this way?

I do. I do.

I wish I could put two parents in every home

and make every parent responsible.

But you can't do that.

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