Gun Violence in America,Where the Shit Hits the Fan..

If not now, When?

20 innocent white children died yesterday because another privileged white boy took his parent's weapons and acted out, horrifying America. Babies died. Teachers died. It was an almost unheard of attack on a school, except that it had happened before, at Columbine and Virginia Tech. Two days earlier another one walked into a mall in another non-urban area and killed two before killing himself. Other crazy white boys have turned churches into shooting ranges to demonstrate their hate of people who are different.

What makes this so horrifying was the age of the latest victims, 5-10 years old. Even President Obama teared up while delivering the country's condolences via nationwide news coverage.

Yet, Obama's press secretary shut down the press who dared to ask for a response, by saying “today is not the day.”

I am truly sorry so many little white kids died, yesterday. I really am. But the day to hold this conversation on gun violence in America was this past summer when gun death stalked the streets of Chicago. The day to hold this conversation was when the crazy white supremacist walked into a Sikh Temple and killed innocent people of color.

The time to hold this conversation was when Amadou DiAllou was killed at his front door, or when Sean Bell died in his car the night before he was to get married, or when Trayvon Martin was killed while walking home, or the young man was executed in the back seat of his friend's car, down in Florida, a few weeks ago.

The time to hold this conversation is the next time a bullet rips through a wall and kills a kid thought to be safe inside her own bedroom

The time to hold this conversation is whenever the Mothers of murdered children hold a march and vigil in the neighborhoods of the inner city, commemorating the lives of their dead children, just as innocent and cut down in life way to soon.

These victims, people of color, usually, are equally as innocent as the ones who died at Sandy Hook, or Columbine or Virginia Tech, but they are totally forgotten. The daily body count is not even mentioned in the same breath with what happened in these communities “where things such as this just never happen.”

Mass murders seem to be increasing in upscale communities, and I guess I should welcome the coming storm of media coverage that follows rich white people and their children when they die. However,  daily killings go on in urban centers unabated, and unreported, and all we get is silence from Washington.

Another crazy white boy takes out a Congresswoman and nine others, and all you hear from Congress is silence when one of their own is cut down.

Nothing. Nada.

Neither side of the congressional aisle had anything to say when Gabbie Giffords was shot, or yesterday, proving that Democrats are as bought and paid for by the National Rifle Association as Republicans. Everybody who calls himself a politician suckles at the NRA money tit, regardless of the outcry coming from the people they are supposed to represent.

The second amendment was not meant to be stretched this far or used for the purpose of allowing crazies to arm themselves with big guns in order to kill the rest of us. I've got no problem with hunters or home protection. But the question that has to be answered is, what “game” are you hunting for with an AK-47 or a gun that fires wall piercing bullets?

Which brings me back to the President. Having recently won re election in a landslide, isn't it time to speak up on the things that people care about, namely gun violence, stopping the wars altogether, and rebuilding infrastructure, mental health issues, climate change and the environment?

Not like the prez is going to lose any votes by addressing what we think is in his heart. The blue collar and rich white men who hate him now, are not gonna change their minds if he stays silent on gun control.

They're already pissed off, so let's go all the way and piss them off some more.

We the people gave Obama his Teflon coat of armor. Now is the time to put it on and take down some of the demons that plague us as a country. Time to make some real, meaningful change.

Top of the list, gun violence and mental health.

How about it Mr. President?

Shock and Disgust

Four years later and the “shock and awe” of the assault on Iraq has turned to anger and disgust. Those of us who were alive during Vietnam can rightfully say “we told ya so.” This latest quagmire was never about liberation, freedom or the war on terror. It was about politics, religion and rich men’s dreams of getting richer at the expense of the rest of us.

The war platform was built on lies which were shaped by cherry picked intelligence to bolster the prevarications that we needed to liberate the Iraqi people in order to protect our country from terrorism. The war platform was shaped by right wing religious fervor of spreading Christianity to the “heathens.” Bring them to “our” god and making the world a “safer” place. The war was the method that some thought could bring control of the oil rich territories to the west, insuring our energy supplies.

We now know by looking backward that this administration sent our troops over there without proper equipment, armor, and in some cases, training. This administration sent our national guard troops to fight and die in an illegal conflagration that left this country exposed to the elements. Helpless when it came to fighting the natural disasters that have ravaged us in the past few years. There was no one to help those victimized by Katrina except an inept, uncaring group of political hacks appointed by this White House, in order to fulfill campaign promises. There is no one, now, to dig out from under the series of tornadoes and storms that have cut wide paths of destruction across much of the southern half of this country.

Iraq is mired in a religious civil war. We are caught in the middle. Our president is sending more troops while Congress stands around with its thumb up its ass.

3200 dead. We’re running out of troops. The war goes on...........

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“Another N**** Dead, “ So What!

When I was about 11 years old, a three year old cousin of mine, who was named after my mother, was hit and killed by a car. It was her fault. She ran into the street, chasing a cat. She didn’t see the car. The driver didn’t see her. She died instantly.

Three days later she was buried. The funeral was held in Cleveland and while the procession wound down Euclid Avenue, I remember looking out a window as my father drove and seeing a young, skinny white dude, jumping up and down and clapping his hands singing a made up song; “another nigger dead, another nigger dead, another nigger dead.” He didn’t stop until all the cars had past him. It didn’t make any difference that we were burying a little girl who just wanted to play with her kitty cat.

This memory came back to me as I watched the news conference about the indictments of the police officers who executed Sean Bell on his wedding day. They were indicted for first and second degree manslaughter. Serious charges, if they are convicted.

But I wanted to hear the word “murder” somewhere in the official reckoning. This was an execution, plain and simple. There was no equivocation. One cop shot 50 rounds. He had to reload at least once. He knew what he was doing.

Another nigger dead, another nigger dead, another nigger dead. So what.

45 years later and I still can’t get that phrase out of my head.