Speech by Darrel Scott, father of Columbine victim

Please read this painfully truthful speech given
by
Rachel Scott’s
father before the US Judiciary Committee just
recently which the media
refused to report or print. It’s time to hear the
painful truth.

On
Thursday, May 27, 1999, Darrell Scott, the father of
Rachel Scott, a
victim of the Columbine High School shootings in
Littleton, Colorado,
was invited to speak to the House Judiciary
Committee’s Subcommittee.
What he said to our national leaders during this
special session of
Congress was painfully truthful. They were not
prepared to hear what he
was to say, nor was it received well. It
needed to be heard by every parent, teacher,
politician, sociologist,
psychologist and every so-called expert. These
courageous words spoken by
Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply
personal. There is
no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in
the wilderness.

Following is a portion of the transcript:

Since the dawn of creation there has been good and
evil in the hearts
of men and women. We all contain seeds of kindness
or seeds of violence.
The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy
Scott, and the deaths of
that heroic teacher and the 11 other children who
died must not be in
vain. Their
blood cries out for answers. The first recorded act
of violence was
when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field.
The villain was not
the club he used. Neither was it the National Club
Association. The true
killer was Cain, and the real reason for the murder
could only be found
in Cain’s heart In the days that followed the
Columbine tragedy, I was
amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at
groups such as the
NRA.

I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I
do not even own a
gun. I am not here to defend or represent the NRA,
because I do not
believe that they are responsible for my daughter’s
death. Therefore, I
do not believe that they need to be defended. If I
believed they had
anything to do with
Rachel’s murder, I would be their strongest opponent
I am here today to
declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy. It
was a spiritual event
that should be forcing us to look at where the real
blame lies. Much of
the blame lies here in this room, behind the
pointing fingers of the
accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four
nights ago that expresses
my feelings best. This was written way before I knew
I would be speaking
here today.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs.
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage.
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms.
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question, Why?
You regulate restrictive laws.
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand
That God is what we need

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist
of body, soul and
spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part
of our make-up, we
create a void that allows evil, prejudice and hatred
to rush in and
wreak havoc. Spiritual influences were present
within our educational
systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of
our major colleges
began as theological seminaries. This is a
historical fact. What has
happened to us as a nation? We have refused to
honor God and in so
doing we open the doors to hatred and violence And
when something as
terrible as Columbine tragedy occurs, politicians
immediately seek to
pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode
away our personal
and private liberties. We do not need more
restrictive laws. Eric and
Dylan would not have been stopped by metal
detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone
who spends months
planning this type of massacre. The real villain
lies within our own
hearts. Political posturing and restrictive
legislation are not the
answers.

The young people of our nation hold the key. There
is a spiritual
awakening taking place that will not be squelched!
We do not need more
religion, or more gaudy television evangelists
spewing out verbal
religious garbage. We do not need more million
dollar church buildings
built while people with basic needs are being
ignored. We do need a
change of heart and a humble acknowledgment that
this nation was founded
on the principle of simple trust in God.

As my son Craig lay under that table in the school
library and saw his
two friends murdered before his very eyes he did not
hesitate to pray in
school. I defy any law or politician to deny him
that right. I
challenge every young person in America, and around
the world, to
realize that on April 20, 1999,
at Columbine High School prayer was brought back
into our schools. Do
not let the many prayers offered by those students
be in vain. Dare to
move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard
for legislation
that violates your God-given right to communicate
with him.

To those of
you who would
point your finger at the NRA, I give you a sincere
challenge. Dare to
examine your own hearts before casting the first
stone! My daughter’s
death will not be in vain. The young people of this
country will not
allow that to happen.