As a bleeding liberal Democrat, I have never been against guns, but simply for gun regulation. I am tired of watching people die just because other people like guns too much. I wish for a day I don't wake up to countless notifications on my phone from CNN, AP and the New York Times telling me about what horrific events happened while I was sleeping. The problem with being upset over this horrific events is that they tend to blur together. I had to Google search Alton Sterling because I couldn't remember if he was from Baton Rouge or if that was Philando Castile. The news has died down about both men but these cities and families are still torn down from each tragedy. As of Monday, three officers had been killed and three more injured in Baton Rouge and let's not forget about Dallas.
An episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" entitled "Gun Fever: Too Hot" explores each side of the gun argument. Dee and Dennis think guns are too easy to get ahold of and don't support the use of gun ownership while Charlie and Mac think everyone out on the streets should be equipped with a gun. Dee and Dennis go to a gun shop to prove it is too easy to buy a gun and Dee says in her charmingly sarcastic tone, "I would like to buy a man destroyer from you, please. Hey, maybe you could recommend something that could blow a hole through an elephant, you know because I need that for my home protection." It really could be that easy but ultimately they are both denied the hefty AR-15s because of Dennis' criminal background and the fact Dee was institutionalized. The show always tackles political issues into the plotline and conveys each side of the story to educate viewers in a (very) skewed way.
This country, simply put, lacks proper gun control and has a corrupt police and justice system. Why, why, why? Someone in the United States government should have figured out that there is a problem by now. It's been four years since Trayvon Martin, two years since Eric Garner and Mike Brown and the problem isn't fixed, or even close to being fixed. What about Rodney King in 1992, which sparked the Los Angeles riots? Martin Luther King Jr's assassination in 1968? How many more have to die? Think of the Ferguson rallies that took place almost two years ago. Why has nothing changed? Black lives matter.
According to a Boston Globe editorial published on June 16, since 2004 when the assault weapon ban expired there have been 47 mass shootings, 411 people have been killed and zero attempts to ban assault weapons. A line that took me away from the editorial was, "We do not yet know who will be the next president of the United States, but there’s nearly a mathematical certainty that the person to hold that office will be called on to console a grieving nation after another mass shooting" because, according to USA Today, President Barack Obama has made fourteen speeches after mass shootings since he became president in 2009.
A survey conducted by CBS News "shows 57 percent of Americans now favor such a ban. That's up from 44 percent in December. Most Democrats -- 78 percent -- support an assault weapons ban, while only 18 percent oppose it. Half of Republican respondents oppose a ban, but about 45 percent are in favor of it."
A filibuster took place on June 15 led by Connecticut senator Chris Murphy lasting for 15 hours in an attempt to create awareness for gun control. He stood for 15 hours "talking about gun control, paving the way for high-profile congressional votes on restricting firearms just days after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history," according to Politico. He has been a gun control advocate since the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in 2012 but has not made much success in his time because of who the government holds. After the filibuster, the GOP has agreed to allow votes on two different gun control laws, according to NBC News.
The United States can't be the greatest country ever when we have become desensitized to mass shootings and do nothing about it. We are desensitized to race problems within this country. Should it be argued there is only one race? The human race. And we are destroying it. In a public letter rapper Drake wrote, "It's impossible to ignore that the relationship between black and brown communities and law enforcement remains as strained as it was decades ago. No one begins their life as a hashtag." But it seems so many are ending their lives as hashtags. Singer Beyoncé penned an open after Alton Sterling's murder and wrote, "We don't need sympathy. We need everyone to respect our lives. We’re going to stand up as a community and fight against anyone who believes that murder or any violent action by those who are sworn to protect us should consistently go unpunished.”
As a young white citizen, we are the ones who should be thinking about black people and their rights. My reality is different than a black person, even if they were raised similarly to me, but I have the privilege of my skin that gives me a head's up in everything. Does it give me a head's up to help make a change too? I have been hesitant to speak out, as I'm scared of saying something wrong. I want to do something but I don't know what to do. I don't expect anyone to go out of their way to make room for me at a Black Lives Matter rally. You don't have to but know that I am part of this fight. I have privilege as a young, white woman. I could list off all the things that qualify me for having privilege, including education, but even education doesn't mean I'll ever understand what it means to targeted, profiled and discriminated against for no reason. The reason being the color of my skin. I want to change my community. I have never felt the need to prove myself to anyone but I feel like I need to prove I'm on the side of minority rights.
Black Lives Matter. Why wouldn't they? Stop saying All Lives Matter. All lives do matter but this is the time where black lives matter. We are focused right now because not everyone seems to know that black lives matter. They do. A New York Times article writes, "[s]aying 'All Lives Matter' in response would suggest to them that all people are in equal danger, invalidating the specific concerns of black people." The point of Black Lives Matter is not to say black lives are more important than any other lives but to recognize that these lives matter now more than ever. When I say black lives matter I don't mean other lives don't matter. The movement works to raise awareness of the corrupted politics concerning the lives of those who are black. With the recent awareness in the country concerning the amount of innocent lives ended too soon by harassment and unwarranted arrests, Black Lives Matters protests are in awareness of the deaths of black citizens, racial profiling, police brutality, and corruption in the criminal justice system. Simple.
I have attempted to became a part of the movement. I understand the movement fully but I need to do more. Patrisse Cullors, a cofounder of Black Lives Matter, visited and conducted a discussion in November at my college. While I like to think I was already very aware of the movement and mission, I learned a lot at the event and wish more of my classmates attended. Cullors initiated hot topic conversation challenging the crowd asking two different questions: "what have you done to save black lives and what will you do to save black lives?" What have I done?
I don't know if I believe America will change even though the fight has been going on for longer than we even know. Or that America was ever great. Guns are a problem. Racial tensions are a problem. This is a Civil Rights movement. I'm trying to make a change by starting with acknowledging the problem.