DATE=4/26/2000
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=OKLAHOMA MEMORIAL MUSEUM
NUMBER=5-46202
BYLINE=MICHAEL LELAND
DATELINE=OKLAHOMA CITY
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
Voiced At:
Intro: The United States' newest national memorial
honors the victims and survivors of the 1995 bombing
of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The
memorial includes a reflecting pool and a field of 168
empty chairs - one for each of the 168 people killed
in the bombing. Later this year, a museum will open
next to the park. V-O-A's Michael Leland reports the
museum will tell the story of the bombing and its
aftermath, and promote nonviolent solutions to
conflicts.
TEXT: /// Church bells and jets act (establish, fade
under text) ///
The dedication of the Oklahoma City National Memorial
was accompanied by the ringing of church bells
downtown, as military jets passed overhead. Jeannine
Gist, whose daughter was killed in the bombing of the
Murrah Federal Building, was among those attending.
/// GIST ACT ///
All of the anniversaries prior to this have just
been painful, but this memorial is really
something special. We have something to offer
the world. You can look out there and see those
168 chairs representing the 168 victims.
/// END ACT ///
By the end of the year, the memorial that park
officials expect will soon become the state's top
tourist attraction will be joined by a museum. Bob
Johnson chairs the Oklahoma City National Memorial
Trust, which oversees the memorial site.
/// FIRST JOHNSON ACT ///
In this museum, we will house the experience of
April 19th, 1995 and the days that followed. You
will become more acquainted with the 168
innocent men, women and children who perished
from the bombing. You will learn more about who
they were as individuals.
/// END ACT ///
The museum will be housed in a former office building
that was heavily damaged in the bombing. Visitors
will not only learn more about the victims, but also
have a chance to hear stories from survivors and
rescue workers. Television monitors will play news
reports from the bombing and aftermath. Exhibits will
also show visitors how rescue teams carried out their
duties, and how urban rescue equipment and procedures
have changed as a result of the bombing.
Mr. Johnson says some of the images will be graphic
and upsetting, but the museum will have an area
suitable for children and families.
/// SECOND JOHNSON ACT ///
Hopefully, when they leave here, they will not
only have a better understanding of what
transpired here, both the good and the bad, they
will also leave with the feeling that there is
far more good in the world than bad.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT ///
The museum staff is already reaching out to children
throughout the United States. It has developed a
school curriculum on the bombing, on violence and
violence prevention, and on memorials in general.
Museum archivist Jane Thomas says schools requesting a
curriculum also receive one of the hundreds of stuffed
toy bears left by visitors at the bombing site during
the last five years.
/// FIRST THOMAS ACT ///
The real asset that the "hope bear" brings is
that you can talk to students about conflict
situations and finding nonviolent solutions, and
it is just something they hear. When they are
sitting there looking at a bear that comes from
a bombing, you have their attention.
/// END ACT ///
The bears are among more than 50-thousand artifacts
collected from a chain link fence that used to
surround the bombing site. Ms. Thomas says people
still leave items when they visit, but she is finding
an increasing number of mementos that have nothing to
do with the Murrah Building attack.
/// SECOND THOMAS ACT ///
One day there was an old dog on the fence, a
stuffed toy. There was a note around his neck
saying, "This dog belonged to our 17-year-old
daughter. It was her favorite stuffed animal.
She was killed in an automobile accident and we
brought the dog to you."
/// END ACT //
/// END OPT ///
Mr. Johnson of the Memorial Trust hopes the museum
will encourage people to think about violence and its
effects on a community.
/// THIRD JOHNSON ACT ///
People who visit here receive the imperative
that we reject violence as a means of affecting
government change. That they learn more about
the senselessness of violence, that they learn
of the losses of innocence and security that
result from a terrorist attack.
/// END ACT ///
Memorial visitor Leanne Waddell was looking at the
field of empty chairs on the park's opening day, and
says the site already makes a powerful statement about
terrorist violence.
/// WADDELL ACT ///
We all have a voice. We can speak our minds.
We are allowed. We are so free here. If what
they (the bombers) wanted to do was to say
something, we would have listened. Anybody will
listen to you. It is a shame they thought that
an act of violence this severe was what it would
take for someone to listen to their side.
/// END ACT ///
The museum will also include a research center on the
prevention of terrorism and political violence. The
facility is expected to open in December. (Signed)
NEB/MJL/gm
26-Apr-2000 16:06 PM EDT (26-Apr-2000 2006 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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