Terrorism, Gun Violence, and Education
Confronting fear in Barcelona, Brazil, and my own backyard
Barcelona
“You need to come home.” “It’s too dangerous there.” “Please be careful and don’t get killed.”
After a summer family stay in 1990 and a full-year study abroad in 1992–93 in the magical city of Barcelona, I was beyond ecstatic to land my first full-time job with benefits teaching in the English department at the University of Barcelona.
I was walking familiar streets and even stepping into familiar classrooms, but it quickly became my first personal experience living with the daily threat of terrorism. The year was 2000 and the ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) — a Basque separatist group that has been classified by many as a terrorist group — was at the height of their activity.
Bomb threats, car bombs, and assassinations were a weekly occurrence throughout Spain with one of these acts of terrors occurring in Barcelona on average once a month.
“I was having dinner and felt my apartment shake last night,” commented a local friend who I knew lived in the neighborhood where a car…
