Walk for Respect has new meaning for Swampscott school
Students were nearby in fatal attack in D.C.
LYNN - Before Anne Crimmins took a phone call from her son Sam on Wednesday, she had no idea the 14-year-old had been in the building when a fatal shooting occurred at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
"When he told me what happened, I turned on the news right away," she said.
Crimmins was visibly shaken yesterday as she addressed a crowd from several North Shore communities near the Nahant Rotary, during the second annual Walk for Respect, an event held by the Swampscott Task Force on Respect for Human Differences.
The D.C. gunman, who struck as the Swampscott Middle School students were on a class trip, killed a museum security guard. The shooter was a known anti-Semite and white supremacist, and the knowledge that Swampscott's children were so near a hate crime lent gravity to the day's events. The 120 people who registered to walk yesterday - as part of an Anti-Defamation League initiative that designates communities as "No Place for Hate" - did not expect their gesture would become so meaningful.
"It was only after the horrific incident at the Holocaust Memorial Museum that it took on an added significance," said Derrek Shulman, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in New England, who walked with his children. "It was not just an attack on the security guard, it was an attack on us all," he said.
"We felt it was a very teachable moment," said Jessica O'Gorman, cochairwoman of the task force, formed in January 2008 after someone drew a swastika in a bathroom at Swampscott Middle School.
Crimmins was one of several speakers who opened the walk with a message about the shooting. "I'm acutely aware, more than ever, that prejudice exists everywhere," she said.
State Representative Lori Ehrlich of Marblehead added: "That it was our children makes the ripples through our community particularly profound."
Jake Powell, 14, a Swampscott Middle School student who was visiting the museum during the shooting, said he was standing close enough to the lobby to see glass shatter.
Walking along the coast yesterday, he said that recognizing hate crimes is a step toward preventing them.
"I think a lot of people really don't understand how big of a problem racism and anti-Semitism are," he said.
Colorful posters painted by Swampscott students were taped beside the walkers' 2.2-mile route, between the rotary and Swampscott Middle School.
One poster labeled "Respect" had a list of rules to follow: "Be nice allways!" [sic] and "Never yell at an adult," and "Treat people the way you want to be treated."
Vivian Nereim can be reached at vnereim@globe.com. 
