![\"Bernard](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2021\/05\/Lafayette_2-225x300.jpg\")
Photo courtesy of Bernard Lafayette Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Authorities should dig deep into Mateen\u2019s past for a motive by interviewing his parents, co-workers and friends. \u201cWe have to see how he arrived at that decision. What were his perceptions?\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Next, the shooting\u2019s impact on young people, especially those who are gay, should be intensely examined. \u201cI don\u2019t want gay people to become entrenched with fear.\u2019\u2019
\nThen, the country needs to come up with an action plan\u2014with support from the media, he says. \u201cWe must not let this fade away after 10 days.\u2019\u2019 He says a powerful way to communicate with young people is through music, and that the artists\u2019 message should be: \u201cDon\u2019t let this tragedy destroy us.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He advocates for stronger gun control laws\u2014\u201cYou can\u2019t kill anybody unless you have guns,\u2019\u2019 he says\u2014and better mental health policies. Mateen murdered the people with an assault rifle; it\u2019s also been reported that he suffered from mental health issues.<\/p>\n
But Lafayette also brings another perspective to the massacre, the worst mass shooting in American history. He says nonviolence training should start as early as pre-school.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a very early age, we need to let people know how to deal with differences and conflict,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cOne of the things we do in our nonviolent teaching is help people recognize others, rather than just themselves. To manage conflict, you have to understand why people feel the way they do. The truth comes from being able to understand both sides.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He advocates instilling the values of King that focus on three things: We are different, and that\u2019s O.K. We should learn to \u201cengage\u2019\u2019 people who are different. We must take steps to create a cohesive and beloved community.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou do not stand idly by when you see a conflict,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cYou take action.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He recalls a training he did with second graders at a school. During a break, a fight broke out on the playground. The second graders gathered around the offenders and started singing the National Anthem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey intervened, and the fighting stopped,\u2019\u2019 he says. \u201cThis shows how nonviolence training can work. We\u2019ve got to get to people when they\u2019re young.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Nonviolence training is crucial to prevent similar horrors, he says. \u201cWhat\u2019s needed are the skills to help people manage their anger and internal conflict. What most people don\u2019t understand is that anger comes when people feel they do not have the power to make things different. They feel powerless and weak. That\u2019s when they resort to violence.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
He urges leaders in the gay community, with strong support from the media, to report every incident of violence against someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer or transgender. \u201cThis is the only way,\u2019\u2019 he says, \u201cwe\u2019ll bring about change.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Lafayette is national chairman of the board for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and a former distinguished scholar and professor at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University.<\/p>\n
He was a Freedom Rider, the former national coordinator of the Poor People\u2019s Campaign, and a close associate of King. He is recognized as an authority on \u201cKingian\u2019\u2019 nonviolence, lecturing throughout the nation and world on how to prevent violence and respond to violent situations.<\/p>\n
The institute ends Friday June 17, with a visit from U.S. Sen. Jack Reed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I., June 14, 2016\u2014Two obvious ways to prevent atrocities like the Orlando shooting are better gun control laws and mental health policies, says a civil rights activist visiting the 溏心vlog免费B站. But Bernard Lafayette Jr., also touts the importance of something unfamiliar to most: nonviolence training. A minister, writer and professor who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}