It’s a strange booklet received by Texan children. It features Winnie the Pooh. The famous character from children’s literature teaches young students what to do in case of gunshots in their school.
“Run, hide, fight”, advises the little bear, personality of children’s literature. This slogan (“Run, Hide, Fight”), well known in the United States, summarizes the recommendations of the federal police (FBI) in the event of a shooter.
The booklet, distributed in Dallas schools, uses it “in a format adapted to the age of the students”, estimates the security company which publishes it, Praetorian Consulting.
“If danger is near, don’t panic. Hide like the Pooh until the police come,” reads a page illustrated with a drawing of Winnie in her iconic honeypot. In a childish tone, it is also advisable to “run like the rabbit”, to put your phone on silent, to lock the doors, blocking the way.
What if we can’t escape? “We must fight with all our might,” the booklet says.
American schools are regularly the scene of massacres perpetrated by one or more shooters.
This controversy comes almost a year to the day after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, one of the worst such shootings in the country’s history. On May 24, 2022, a young man killed nineteen children and two female teachers.
The publication of the booklet in mid-May, revealed by the local media Oak Cliff Advocate, angered parents of students. “It’s like a slap,” said the washington post Cindy Campos, whose 5-year-old received the booklet. For her, this means that school shootings “are now normal”.
Same indignation on the side of the defenders of a stricter framework for firearms. “Winnie the Pooh is now educating Texas kids about shooters because elected officials don’t have the guts to keep kids safe” by legislating guns, said California Governor Gavin Newsom.
The famous characters from the Winnie the Pooh universe can be used because they have passed into the public domain, specifies Praetorian Consulting on its site, stressing that the booklet was developed with police officers and teachers. Stickers and posters are also available.