The Black Page Project
The Black Page Project is a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of media and public scapegoating.

On April 20th, 1999, two Colorado youths entered their high school with guns and pipe bombs and took the lives of 12 students and a teacher.  It was a horrible act of violence committed by two deeply troubled teenagers, and is currently the worst incident of school violence on record.

The general response, as it often is in events such as this, was to look desperately for possible causes, no matter how obscure or disjointed.   Many newspapers, magazines, television and radio programs and public speakers were quick to blame the incident on two basic factors:

  • the Goth movement, a fashion, music, literature, and art trend among young people
  • specific elements of entertainment industry, namely: movies such as "The Matrix" and "Interview With A Vampire,"  music groups such as Marilyn Manson and KMFDM, video games such as "Doom" and "Quake," and role-playing games such as "Vampire: The Masquerade" and "Dungeons & Dragons."

THE
CREDO
OF
THE
BLACK
PAGE
PROJECT

 The Black Page Project's message is as follows:

1. That the loss of life in these acts of violence is tragic, and has been felt by all of us .

2. That looking for scapegoats in situations such as these is a step backward, not forward, and will never result in a real solution to the real problem.

3. That the fear and hatred generated by such scapegoating is making matters worse, not better, as it encourages the abuse and discrimination of those who are "different."

 

THE
BLACK-OUT

 One of the tools that the Black Page Project will use to increase awareness is the "Black Out," in which participating sites will display a black page for their entry page on April 20th, 2000.   This page will include a statement of respect for the loss of life in the Colombine tragedy (and others), and some basic information about the project and how to become a participant.

 

SIGN
THE
BLACK
PAGE

A section of the Black Page will be set aside as a sort of guestbook / petition, allowing those who have read and agree with the page to sign their name to it.  This will be a list of names and locations of those who have "signed" the page.

 

QUESTIONS,
IDEAS,
COMMENTS,
& CRITICISMS

 This is an idea that is still in it's infancy, as could be easily guessed by the quality of this page.  All correspondence should be directed to wjwalton@theescapist.com.

 

Thank you for your time,

William J. Walton