The Cleveland School Massacre in Stockton

Welcome to Season 3, Episode 2! It’s probably a good bet that you remember the school names and communities of Columbine, Parkland, and Sandy Hook… not to mention so many other recent school shootings. But before most of those happened was the Cleveland School Massacre in Stockton on January 17, 1989. As we approach 34 years since this incident, we don’t know why it’s generally ignored nowadays, but it shouldn’t be. When we talk about forgotten massacres, it’s understandable that events have been forgotten from a hundred years ago or more… but when something is only a few decades ago and was the worst school shooting in history at that time… it boggles our minds that it’s largely ignored or forgotten. In this episode we talk about the Cleveland Elementary Shooting as well as the shooter, a 24-year-old white supremacist named Patrick Purdy. Although we spend a good amount of time going into his background, that is not to develop excuses for his horrible actions… only to illustrate how many years and opportunities there were for someone… anyone… to realize his racist rants and questionable behavior should have been called out. Anti-Asian violence doesn’t happen randomly.  We recommend reading the report on the event provided to Attorney General John Van De Kamp as well as supporting the group Cleveland School Remembers. For previous episodes and information, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com.

Segments

• 00:25 Intro to the Most Forgotten Massacres in AAPI History
• 01:53 The Cleveland School Massacre in Stockton
• 17:42 Organizations to Know: Cleveland School Remembers