Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Slate Presents: Lockdown

Episode Air Date: December 18, 2019
Episode Theme:
Living through the Era of School Shootings, One Drill at a Time
A collaborative audio special from Slate and The Trace, hosted by Dahlia Lithwick, delves into the lived experiences of American students as they perform lockdown and active shooter drills—a now-routine part of K-12 life across the United States. Through raw, first-hand student testimony, the episode explores the emotional, psychological, and practical toll of “the era of school shootings,” told almost entirely in the voices of the children themselves.

Episode Overview

• Purpose:
  To illuminate the real, often unnoticed impact of routine active shooter drills on children—from kindergarten to high school senior—across America. The episode draws on reporting by Elizabeth Van Brocklin and Alon Stevens, who interviewed two dozen students in cities and towns nationwide.
• Approach:
  The podcast bypasses adult analysis to foreground kids’ voices, aiming for unfiltered honesty about their experiences and fears.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The New Normal: Growing Up with Lockdown Drills

• Lockdown drills are universal: Students of all ages and geographies now expect active shooter drills as a standard part of schooling.

• Students are acutely aware: Despite euphemisms, children of all ages understand the reason for these drills—school shootings.

  “This is a generation that has grown up doing lockdown drills. Most of these kids know exactly what the drills are for, whether we adults realize it or not.”
  —Elizabeth Van Brocklin, reporter, The Trace [01:06]

2. The Youngest Voices: Innocence Collides with Fear

• Kindergarten experience (Leo, Louisville, KY):
  • Describes the surreal blend of fear and play during drills—hiding in a crowded closet, worrying about a “stranger” (ultimately the principal in disguise), and interpreting the threat through his imagination.
  • Notable quote:

    “We hide in the back room or the closet. And it’s very crowded. My friends were playing…Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot. And I was like, no, I know there’s still someone out there.”
    —Leo [03:38]

• The confusion of explanations: Teachers sometimes use metaphors about wild animals instead of guns, but students quickly sense the reality.

3. Routine Disruptions and Physical Preparation

• Where kids are when drills happen:
  Whether in gym, physics, or English class, the abrupt shift from normalcy (“thinking about calculus” one moment, “how I would escape if there was someone with a gun” the next) is jarring.
  —[04:39–05:10]

• Physical logistics:
  Tactics range from staying silent and out of sight, to being prepared to throw objects or barricade doors.

  • Patterned behavior: “Lock, lights out of sight.” [10:47]
  • Cramped, dark conditions, students pressed together trying to remain undetected.
  • Coping: Kids play games (e.g., patty cake, “shotgun”) to pass the time and distract themselves from fear.

4. Emotional Repercussions: Chronic Anxiety and Coping Mechanisms

• Real physical fear:

  • Students recount panic attacks (Kennedy, Baltimore: “he started breathing heavily, he had started crying, and everyone was really worried about him”—[08:54]).
  • Kids worry about being too loud, accidentally giving away their hiding spot.

• Anxiety and hyper-vigilance:

  • Some restrict water intake to avoid being caught in the bathroom during a lockdown (Phoebe, South Orange NJ:

    “If I stop drinking water, then I won’t have to use the bathroom...I started to get super bad headaches because I was dehydrated.” [08:27])

  • A sense of “never knowing” when or if the drills could become reality.

• Desensitization and Detachment (especially among older students):

  • High school students describe learning to detach, shifting focus from fear to strategy:

    “I became more used to just thinking, what is the best course of action to save myself?”
    —Margo, 12th grade, Baltimore [19:50]

  • Some find bizarre humor or fatalism (“Maybe nobody at my school feels the same way. You still talk with your friends, you still have fun…and it’s a strange experience.” —Macy, 8th grade, South Orange, NJ [14:34])

5. The Mechanics and Ethics of "Countermeasures"

• Active defense:
  • Schools sometimes teach students to grab objects (scissors, textbooks, even pencils) in order to “counter” attackers, e.g., ALICE protocol:

    “If someone were to come at you, you either throw it at them to slow it down, or…just whack them in the head with it….[But] I don’t think any of these are really gonna work if you’re against a rifle.”
    —Colin, 6th grade, LA County [12:43]

  • Skepticism and dark humor: Acknowledgment that such objects are no match against firearms, but it’s all that’s available.
  • Students often left to their own improvisations—discussing “what would you do?” in each classroom.

6. The Aftermath: Emotional State and Societal Fatigue

• Mixed reactions post-drill:

  • Some students feel relief, others remain intensely anxious about future drills or an actual event.
  • Older students tend toward numbness; for some, it's “just another drill.”

• Resignation and stark honesty:

  • Acknowledgment that, even with preparation, “if somebody really, really wanted to hurt us, they’re going to do it.”
    —Sharnita, 12th grade, Baltimore [21:35]
  • “The shootings aren’t just gonna stop. They’re gonna keep happening.”
    —Anonymous student [22:54]

• Roiling frustration for normalcy stolen:

  “I want to be thinking about my science test…I don’t want to be thinking about how can I best hide from a shooter.”
  —Satchell, Louisville, KY [23:12]

  • “Kindergarteners have to be practicing for, like, a shooter coming to the school when, like, you don’t—we shouldn’t have to.”
    —Margo, Baltimore [23:20]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker / Context | Quote / Highlight | |-------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:06 | Elizabeth Van Brocklin | “This is a generation that has grown up doing lockdown drills. Most of these kids know exactly what the drills are for, whether we adults realize it or not.” | | 03:38 | Leo (Kindergarten, Louisville)| “My friends were playing…Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot. And I was like, no, I know there’s still someone out there.” | | 08:27 | Phoebe, 5th grade, NJ | “If I stop drinking water, then I won’t have to use the bathroom...I started to get super bad headaches because I was dehydrated.” | | 08:54 | Kennedy, Baltimore | “One kid…thought it was real. So he had, like, a panic attack. He started breathing heavily, he had started crying, and everyone was really worried about him.” | | 10:47 | Student chorus | “Lock, lights out of sight.” | | 12:43 | Colin, 6th grade, LA County | “If someone were to come at you, you either throw it at them to slow it down, or…just whack them in the head with it….[But] I don’t think any of these are really gonna work if you’re against a rifle.” | | 14:34 | Macy, 8th grade, NJ | “I could go to school and I could die. Pick a day of the week, take a calendar and throw a dart at the calendar. I could die on that day….But you still talk with your friends and…complain about your math homework.” | | 19:50 | Margo, 12th grade, Baltimore | “I became more used to just thinking, like, what is the best course of action to save myself?” | | 21:35 | Sharnita, 12th grade, Baltimore | “If somebody really, really wanted to hurt somebody…they’re going to do it. There’s nothing you can do to stop somebody from hurting somebody….you can lock the door, but if he really want to get in, he can find a way to get in.” | | 22:54 | Anonymous student | “The shootings aren’t just gonna stop, they’re gonna keep happening….if the shooting actually comes, sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it.” | | 23:12 | Satchell, Louisville, KY | “I want to be…thinking about my science test. I don’t want to be thinking about how can I best hide from a shooter.” | | 23:20 | Margo, Baltimore | “Kindergarteners have to be practicing for, like, a shooter coming to the school when, like, you don’t, we shouldn’t have to.” |

Important Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:00–01:06]: Introduction, context of the project (by Dahlia Lithwick and Elizabeth Van Brocklin)
• [02:24–04:39]: Kindergarteners’ experience—innocence, fear, imagination
• [04:40–06:27]: What kids were doing when drills begin; elementary school perspectives
• [08:27–09:57]: Health impacts, panic, and fear; coping strategies (water intake, panic attacks)
• [10:47–12:43]: Details of physical preparation, countermeasures, group tactics
• [14:34–16:47]: Move to middle and high school—existential fear, normalization, fatalism
• [19:13–23:20]: High schooler reflections—strategizing, numbness, frustration, resignation

Tone & Atmosphere

The tone is frank, personal, and deeply empathetic to the students’ perspectives—heartbreaking yet matter-of-fact, with moments of dark humor and candor. Adult voices are sparse; most of the episode is in the voices of children and teenagers, creating an unmistakable immediacy and poignancy.

Final Reflections

"Slate Presents: Lockdown" immerses listeners in a world where school drills for mass shootings are as commonplace as fire or tornado drills, reshaping the mental landscape of an entire generation. In their own words, students name the exhaustion, anxiety, and adaptation forced upon them—and expose the gap between adult intentions and children’s lived reality.

For further reading and context, visit: slate.com/lockdown