From the Editor—Hate Crime in My Town

Regular readers of these editorials know that I have addressed the ugliness of hate crime on several occasions ([Thomas, 2004], [2006], [2007]). Issues in Mental Health Nursing has also published seminal articles on this topic. Most recently, I mentioned hate crimes perpetrated against gays in my introduction to our special issue on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered mental health (issue no. 6, edited by Mona Shattell). That issue was just off the press when an egregious hate crime occurred in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I live. And now I must find words to speak to you about this sickening event.

The facts are as follows: During a Sunday morning service at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church near the university campus, a lone shooter entered the sanctuary and killed two people, injuring six others. Undoubtedly, he would have killed many more, had he not been forcibly restrained by members of the congregation until taken into custody by police. This murderous act occurred while children were performing a musical, and some children were spattered with blood. During the early flurry of sketchy media reports, the shooter's motive was unknown.

Later, we learned more about the shooter, a “hard-drinking, hate-filled loner with a string of five busted marriages” ([Fowler, 2008], p. A1) who explained his “reasons” for targeting the Unitarian church in a four-page note found in his car. According to the note, he had targeted that particular church because of its liberal teachings and its policy of welcoming people who are gay. Typical of rampage killers ([Smith, Thomas, & Parker, 2007]), the shooter externalized all blame for his personal problems, which included unemployment as well as failed relationships. Found in his home were books such as Liberalism is a Mental Disorder (Savage, cited in [Jacobs & Hickman, 2008], p. A7) which may have fomented his virulent hatred.

There is no way to neatly wrap up this editorial. As mental health professionals, we are left to wonder how to prevent future hate crimes of this nature. According to an acquaintance of the shooter, “He needed help a long time ago, but he never got it” (cited in Fowler, 2008, p. A1). But in conversations with my colleagues who practice psychotherapy, there is little confidence that an individual such as the church shooter would have availed himself of mental health treatment even if it had been offered. Most likely, he would have viewed seeking treatment as demeaning. He would not have trusted the “liberals” in the mental health treatment establishment any more than he trusted the liberals whom he thought were ruining the government and the church. Without more information, we can only speculate about the life trajectory of this troubled individual and any interventions that perhaps could have averted his murderous rampage.

This journal will continue to publish papers that shed light on hate crime. Unfortunately, few mental health scholars and researchers have written on this topic ([e.g., Herek, Cogan, & Gillis, 2002]; [Sun, 2006]; [Willis, 2004], [2008]). If you have reflections in response to this editorial, I invite you to share them with other readers.