[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[March 28, 1998]
[Page 458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 458]]


The President's Radio Address
March 28, 1998

    Good morning. In the storefronts and shop windows of Jonesboro, 
Arkansas, there are signs that read, ``Our hearts are with Westside 
Middle School.'' Even though Hillary and I are far away from our home 
State, our hearts, too, are with Westside and with the grieving families 
whose loved ones were killed or injured in that tragic incident just 4 
days ago.
    This is the third time in recent months that a quiet town, and our 
Nation, have been shaken by the awful specter of students being killed 
by other young people at schools. We join the families of Jonesboro and 
all America in mourning this terrible loss of young life, life so full 
of promise and hope so cruelly cut short.
    We mourn the loss of Natalie Brooks, of 
Paige Ann Herring, of Stephanie 
Johnson, of Britthney Varner, and of a heroic teacher, Shannon Wright, 
who sacrificed her own life to save a child. 
These five names will be etched in our memories forever and linked 
forever with the names of Nicole Hadley, Jessica James, and Kayce Steger 
of Paducah, Kentucky, and Lydia Kay Dew and Christina Mennefee of Pearl, 
Mississippi. Our thoughts and our prayers are with all their families 
today.
    We do not understand what drives children, whether in small towns or 
big cities, to pick up guns and take the lives of others. We may never 
make sense of the senseless, but we have to try. We have seen a 
community come together in grief and compassion for one another and in 
the determination that terrible acts like these must no longer threaten 
our Nation's children.
    Parents across America should welcome the news reported just this 
month by Attorney General Reno and Education 
Secretary Riley that the vast majority of 
our schools are safe and free of violent crime. We've worked hard to 
make our schools places of learning, not fear, places where children can 
worry about math and science, not guns, drugs, and gangs. But when a 
terrible tragedy like this occurs, it reminds us there is work yet to be 
done.
    I have directed Attorney General Reno to 
bring together experts on school violence to analyze these incidents to 
determine what they have in common and whether there are further steps 
we can take to reduce the likelihood of something so terrible recurring.
    Already we've seen the remarkable difference community policing has 
made in our Nation's streets. Now we have to apply that same energy and 
resolve to our schools to make them safer places for children to learn, 
play, and grow. At school there must be full compliance with our policy 
of zero tolerance toward guns, and at home there should be no easy 
access to weapons that kill.
    Protecting our children from school violence is more than a matter 
of law or policy; at heart, it is a matter of basic values, of 
conscience and community. We must teach our children to respect others. 
We must instill in them a deep, abiding sense of right and wrong. And to 
children who are troubled, angry, or alone, we must extend a hand before 
they destroy the lives of others and destroy their own in the process.
    We have to understand that young children may not fully appreciate 
the consequences of actions that are destructive but may be able to be 
romanticized at a twisted moment. And we have to make sure that they 
don't fall into that trap.
    Three towns: Jonesboro, Pearl, Paducah--too many precious lives 
lost. The white ribbons that flutter today in my home State of Arkansas 
are a poignant and powerful challenge to all of us, a challenge to come 
together for the sake of our children and for the future of our Nation.
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at approximately 5:10 p.m. on March 27 in 
the library at the Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, for 
broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 28.