About
Khadijah Costley White, PhD, an associate professor at Rutgers University and activist, builds upon her work with race, equity, storytelling, and police activism to collect voices about the impact of active shooter drills from students, parents, and teachers in an immersive listening installation — This is Not a Drill.
As news of school shootings continues to break with agonizing frequency across the U.S., school districts have taken measures they claim will keep students safe. Metal detectors, armed guards, and active-shooter lockdown drills are now commonplace. But these changes in school security are often at odds with a healthy learning environment, contributing instead to a culture of fear and anxiety.
“An estimated 98% of American kids participate in active shooter drills.”
This is Not a Drill is a listening installation that meditates on the impact and experience of code red drills in an active shooter society.
Drawing on interviews and conversations with SOMA teachers, students, and parents, these voices shine in a series of booths that block out the visual noise of everyday life.
New Jersey has some of the most extensive active shooter drill laws in the country, and this work helps examine what that means for New Jersey students. Even more, it reflects on what it means to be a society in which our collective failure to adequately regulate guns falls on the shoulders of children.
“I hope the installation makes people think about all the many ways our society forces the most vulnerable to bear the brunt of the collective cowardice and weakness of those who hold the most power.”
— Dr. Khadijah Costley White