A Scary Time

For Cambridge, it's been a scary week.

Monday afternoon, a black student killed a white student in a closed-off wing of the city's Rindge and Latin high school. There is no evidence that the fight itself was racially motivated, but the response, at least in some sections of the city, has divided along racial lines.

Monday night, in "an effort to contain and neutralize the emotions of the students most deeply affected," School Superintendent William Lannon and School Committee member Glenn Koocher '72 met with some of the close friends of the slain student, Anthony Colosimo, in an East Cambridge community center, a meeting filled with rage and emotion.

Officials, fearing that some youths might try to retaliate for the slaying, watched the city anxiously. So far Cambridge has been calm--nothing more than recial epithets scrawled on walls and a round of engry meetings.

Parents and students have met separately and with school administrators and faculty. Black and white students arranged a meeting for tomorrow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And school officials have announced increased security measures to reassure students and parents.

But there are no guarantees school will reopen peacefully. Although many parents and students attended Wenesday night's city-wide meeting, many were also absent, including many of East Cambridge residents who attended a wake for Colosimo instead.

And while many students will be working to keep things calm, the high school has been plagued in the past by undeniable racial tensions.

The death of Colosimo may breed further hostility, and some students said problems may be aggravated if school is turned into an armed camp. "Let us take care of it ourselves." one student told the meeting. "We don't want SWAT teams in the halls," she added.

Cambridge has been cited in the past as one of the most integrated cities in America, and it is unlikely Rindge and Latin will turn into another Hyde Park or South Boston High. Policemen strung every ten feet along the halls to keep the peace.

But Cambridge now has witnessed something even strife-twisted Boston has never gone through--the death of a student.

"We could say let's get one of them," school senior Sean Coyne told the parents' meeting. "But what good is it going to do. Anthony was a good kid, and now he's dead. What are we going to do about it? Come back and fight some more?"