Aug. 10, 1999

Thursday marks a day no one wants to recall and no one can forget, the sunny morning one year ago when a gunman burst into a Jewish day camp and left three children, a teenage counselor and the receptionist wounded, the day a gunman shot a Filipino American letter carrier nine times and left him to die in a Chatsworth driveway.

This anniversary will bring an extra dose of pain, just as birthdays and holidays inevitably do, to the family of the slain Joseph Ileto, to those who every day grieve the loss of this son, brother, co-worker, friend.

And for the five wounded and their families who have spent the past year healing, coping, trying to rebuild a shattered sense of safety, the anniversary will be one more reminder of life’s fragility.

The passage of one year doesn’t end such reminders; more work and more pain lie ahead in day-to-day struggles and in the trial, still six months away, of the self-proclaimed white supremacist charged with murder, attempted murder and hate crimes.

But if the date itself--Aug. 10, 1999--represents only horror and hate, each day since has stood for courage and resolve, both private and public.

Consider:

* In the days following the shootings in Granada Hills and Chatsworth, thousands of residents of the San Fernando Valley and throughout the region marched and rallied against hate crimes.

* Across the country, a New Jersey mother of two saw TV footage of toddlers being led from the North Valley Jewish Community Center and vowed to do something about gun violence. Nine months later, more than half a million mothers and others calling for “common sense” gun laws marched on Washington, D.C. The group remains active as the Million Mom March Foundation.

* Two weeks to the day after the shootings, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors banned the sale of guns and ammunition on all Los Angeles County property.

* Members and neighbors rallied around the Jewish center. In January, the center broke ground on a Unity Garden to honor the community for its support. Vowing to carry on and continue its activities, center directors launched an ambitious new program of arts classes.

* A post office in Chino Hills was renamed in honor of Ileto, and the Chatsworth post office has requested a plaque in his honor, symbolic gestures that say he is not forgotten.

Who does not wish that Aug. 10 was just another ordinary summer day, that the horror of a year ago had never happened?

Who cannot admire those who have worked this past year to do all they can to lessen the chances of it happening again?