Obama seeks to ease Americans' fears, even as threats rattle schools
Obama鈥檚 speech and the simultaneous school searches and closings Thursday highlight a present conflict in many Americans鈥� hearts: In the face of terrorism, how can we be both confident and cautious?
Los Angeles School Police officer Alex Camarillo (far l.) and school officials welcome back area students heading back to school at the Edward R. Roybal Learning Center in Los Angeles Wednesday. Students are heading back to class a day after an emailed threat triggered a shutdown of the vast Los Angeles Unified School District. The shutdown abruptly closed more than 900 public schools and 187 charter schools across Los Angeles.
Damian Dovarganes/AP
President Obama assured the nation Thursday that there are no 鈥渟pecific and credible鈥� terror threats to the United States, on the same day emails to schools across the country triggered closings and heightened security.
Obama鈥檚 speech and the simultaneous school searches and closings Thursday highlight a present conflict in many Americans鈥� hearts: In the face of terrorism, how can we be both confident and cautious?聽
Schools in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, and Dallas received threatening emails Wednesday evening similar to the ones that closed Los Angeles schools earlier this week. And while officials from these districts decided to keep schools open Thursday, it wasn鈥檛 business-as-usual 鈥� school officials took extra precautions.聽
After Houston Independent School District (HISD) told students and faculty that schools would be open Thursday, HISD called in all of its police officers on overtime Thursday morning to patrol schools. 鈥�,鈥� HISD said, 鈥渓aw enforcement officers are currently conducting random sweeps of school district buildings to ensure student safety.鈥�
And in Miami, school officials assured families that the district police would employ extra security to schools Thursday. 鈥�, additional resources have been deployed to schools,鈥� Miami-Dade school officials announced.聽
鈥淲e need to make sure that we don鈥檛 overreact to fear,鈥� Dallas Police Chief David Brown said.
And Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings agreed. 鈥淥bviously someone is trying to scare Dallas,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd that is not going to work."聽
But regardless of police chiefs鈥� positivity or Mr. Obama鈥檚 confidence, schools across the country are still reacting, and trying to be both fearless and safe. 聽
Two Indianapolis school districts in Danville and Plainfield decided to close their doors due to similar threats, keeping almost 8,000 students home Thursday, but Indianapolis officials urged the same confidence.聽
鈥淕et ready to go to jail,鈥� said Danville Police Chief William Wright at a news conference Thursday, directed at the two teenagers accused of distributing the threat. 鈥淲e鈥檙e flat out not going to put up with it.鈥澛�
On the east coast in Washington D.C., Anacostia High School and Frank W. Ballou Senior High School were evacuated Thursday afternoon due to bomb threats, but within a few hours officials gave the all-clear and declared the threats a hoax.聽
Meanwhile in D.C., Obama was giving a speech of confidence to the nation.
鈥淚f you target Americans, you will have no safe haven,鈥� Obama said at the National Counterterrorism Center in Tysons Corner, Va., 鈥淲e will find you and we will defend our nation.鈥�
So it might not be business-as-usual for threatened schools across the country Thursday, but experts say caution is better than outright fear.聽
鈥淔rom a psychological standpoint, that鈥檚 exactly what terrorism is: It鈥檚 to provoke fear so that your operations stop,鈥� Tod Burke, a criminal justice professor at Radford University in Virginia, told 海角大神鈥檚 Harry Bruinius.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 one of the ones who believe that it shouldn鈥檛 scare you away,鈥� Sam Olivares, a mother of two students, told the Houston Chronicle. 鈥淭o me, 鈥� to get you to be afraid.鈥�
This report contains material from Reuters.