D R A M A++Q U E E N

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T A B L E++T A L K

Overindulgent parents who let their kids run the show: Share your stories in the Mothers area of Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

Hey hey, ho ho, the matriarchy's got to go
By Lori Leibovich
Gloria Steinem unleashes exciting news about young feminism. Not!
(03/27/98)

In a league of their own
By Joan Walsh
Even Dusty Baker told her to get a life, but one baseball fanatic and her daughter wouldn't think of missing spring training
(03/26/98)

Scouts' dishonor
By Andrew O'Hehir
The straightest arrow of them all: My friend the gay Scoutmaster
(03/25/98)

Wedding Bell Blues
By Deborah Garrison
Poems of edgy urban working wifedom
(03/24/98)

The Spock touch
By Dwight Garner
More than just a bestselling child-care guru, the late doctor "Spock-marked" a generation with his politics
(03/23/98)

ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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Sign up for our newsletter and win a free copy of "Birthday Letters," by Ted Hughes.

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Making sense of Jonesboro

BY LORI LEIBOVICH | When two teenagers opened fire last Tuesday at a Jonesboro, Ark., middle school, the hunt for answers began almost immediately. What motivated Mitchell Johnson, 13, and Andrew Golden, 11, to don camouflage, pull a fire alarm, then lay in wait until their classmates tumbled out of school before gunning them down? Four girls and one teacher were killed in the cross-fire and several students were injured. Though reports suggest that violence at schools is not on the rise, recent high-profile killings at schools in Pearl, Miss., and West Padukah, Ky., have highlighted the scourge of kids and guns and suggest that adolescents -- and not just in the inner city -- are seeking revenge, maybe even thrills, with firearms.

Blame has already been leveled at our violent, gun-riddled society, a place where, increasingly, children settle playground scores with guns, not fists. But what about the boys themselves? What is going on in the brain of a child who decides to shoot his classmates in cold blood? What are the psychological stirrings inside a young killer?

Salon spoke with Alvin Poussaint, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the author of several books, including "Different and Wonderful: Raising Black Children in a Race Conscious Society" and "Faith of our Fathers: African American Men Reflect on Fatherhood."

People are blaming our violent society for this crime. But couldn't this tragedy simply be about one kid's brain chemistry?

All of it would be speculation without knowing the history of these kids and what kind of life they had. We've gotten little snitches of this in the news. There are some general things that I could say. There was a leader and a follower. We know that the older boy had a lot of anger and a lot of it focused on girls. We know he had actually verbalized to other children that he wanted to kill people.

What causes a kid to blow his classmates away?

You would think they'd been socialized to know you don't kill people, that they go to church and they learn "Thou shalt not kill." So you have to wonder what else is being taught or what isn't being taught in their homes. And what else influences them, in terms of valuing life.

What is at issue here is whether a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old understand what killing means, whether it really registers that the people are going to be dead.

But ultimately, isn't this crime the fault of the boys, not that of society?

They committed the act. They're to blame for it. And they are responsible for it. We expect children to be responsible. We don't expect children to kill. And if they kill they should be punished. I think it would be very wrong to spin any theory that excuses these boys' behavior. You can blame the families too. But the children have to take responsibility.

N E X T+P A G E: The killing game

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PHOTOGRAPH:AP/WIDE WORLD