In the 6/15/16 Edition of “Break It Down,” I
wrote the following as the first two paragraphs of the post:
Before preparing today’s post I decided to
make a cursory inventory. At least six times previously, I have written about
mass gun violence (in America). In the most recent instance before today I
discussed the facts surrounding the June 17, 2015 shooting of the Charleston
Nine at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, SC. Just two days shy of a
year later, I find myself impelled to beat the drum once more. In an ironic
twist, I visited the Mother Emanuel Church this weekend. As I was completing my
exercise regimen, a spin bike ride, early Sunday morning, before my trip to
Charleston, I read a news story and watched on CNN the story and gory details
about the massacre at a gay club in Orlando named Pulse.
Each time such a tragedy befalls us; we as a
society are diminished. It marks yet another cruel and crushing blow to a
nation that I certainly wish to see aspire to emulate its better angels rather
than the very worst in our human nature. I have ranted and railed repeatedly
about the role easy access to firearms plays in the frequent carnage. I’ve
discussed the prevailing politics, examined the NRA and its proxies (lobbyists
and Congressmen and women), and lamented the lack of reform. Been there, done
that, time and time again.
This
past Sunday night, October 1, at 10:08 p.m., 64 year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada,
opened fire on an outdoor festival on the from the 32nd floor of the
Mandalay Bay
Resort and Casino across Las Vegas Boulevard during the closing performance by
singer Jason Aldean.
By the time the shooting stopped eleven minutes later, Paddock had unleashed
what is considered the deadliest firearms assault in American history.
Incidentally, it displaced the previous record of 49, attributed to the
above-referenced 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting at the
Pulse Night Club. The toll: 59 fatalities (including Paddock) and 527 injuries.
The shooter
spent three days in a suite on the 32nd
floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Using that location as his operating center, he assembled a cache of weaponry
that included 23 firearms (22
rifles and one handgun) inside the hotel. Some of the rifles were
altered from semi-automatic to automatic so that they functioned with the
rapid-fire action of machine guns. As police continued investigating the case,
they discovered Paddock had at least 42 guns, explosives, and several thousand
rounds of ammunition. Let’s not delude ourselves, or others, by saying he
snapped. And…if you are an NRA member, or a hard core Republican, then by all
means, let’s not even think of introducing the subject of access to firearms,
or improved gun legislation into the discourse.
Paddock
used a hammer-like object to break two windows in the suite, from which he
launched repeated barrages of gunfire on unsuspecting fans at the concert. The
rapidity with which the bullets rained down on the venue created a level of
confusion that made it impossible for those taking fire to discern from whence
the attack was emanating. If ever there was one, this is an American made tale
of woe.
It
may surprise some to know, I am an NRA member, a life member, in fact. I
maintain an up-to-date CCP…or Concealed Carry Permit, and have qualified for,
and held a permit to provide security services. I am not your prototypical “anti-gun”
guy. However, I do believe easy access to firearms contributes to the health
crisis that is gun violence in America.
Gun violence results in tens of thousands of
deaths and injuries very year. There were more than 73,500 nonfatal injuries,
and over 33,500 deaths due to injury by firearms in this country in 2013. More
than one third of the deaths were homicides, 500+ of those being accidental,
and nearly 300 of undetermined intent. As you must know, gun ownership is
perennially at hotly debated topic here in America. Approximately 1.4 million
people were killed using firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011, the
equivalent of a top
10 largest U.S. city in 2016, roughly somewhere between the
populations of San Antonio and Dallas Texas.
Of course, gun legislation is not the only
issue that has bubbled up with this tragic event. Another matter, just as
controversial, and just as likely to be sidestepped in the mainstream
conversation tableau, is what might commonly be referred to as the “White
people cannot be terrorists” thesis. Mr. Paddock, like most white male mass
shooters before him, has been referred to as many things, lone wolf, unstable,
quiet, and unassuming. One popular newspaper even had a headline that
proclaimed: “Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock enjoyed gambling, country music,
lived quiet life before massacre. Just so we are clear, had Paddock been a
Muslim, or an immigrant from a Muslim country, he would have been memorialized
as a sadistic demon, the likes of which dear old exceptional America had never
seen. If Woody Harrelson is available and willing, perhaps he can land the
starring role in the movie. Already having immortalized the axiom “White Men
Can’t Jump,” he’s had ample time to prepare to shine in “White Men Can’t Be
Terrorists.”
Think whatever you like, but I find it
virtually impossible to imagine memorializing the dude responsible for the
largest mass shooting in American history as a quiet, country music lover who
gambled a little in his spare time. Even the President of the United States was
reserved in discussing the event. To his credit, he described the massacre as
an, “act of pure evil,” which undoubtedly, it was. However, he must have kept
his best stuff on ice. He didn’t call him fat or ugly as he did Rosie
O’Donnell, he didn’t threaten to date him, as he did “Ivanka if she weren’t his
daughter,” he didn’t even call him disgusting, as he did an opposing counsel
who needed a break to breast pump, and he surely didn’t call him an S.O.B., as
he did NFL players who exercise their First Amendment rights.
It has been asserted that such is the gravity
and sway of white privilege. All this is not just relevant, but critically
important at this pivotal juncture in our national experience. When individuals
identifying as Muslim commits a heinous act, the right, especially, will assert
that Islam is the problem. When an African American does so, racist tropes are
rolled out, followed by criminalization and dehumanization of an entire ethnic
group. The normative experience of these other groups is consistently, if not
universally contrasted with white men, who almost automatically get the lone
wolf card.
For example, USA Today declared in
a headline that Mr. Paddock was a “lone wolf,” prior to the
completion of an investigation, before a motive was determined, preceding the
acquisition of his travel history, his home being searched, or the contents of
his computer being analyzed. His family and friends had not been questioned, nor
the contents of his social media evaluated. White Privilege!
The lone wolf
appellation is commonly applied to white suspects in mass shootings. Such
felonious luminaries as James Holmes (Aurora, Colorado movie theater), and Dylann
Roof (Charleston, SC – Emanuel A.M.E. Church) were given the label with the
quickness when they killed twelve and nine people, respectively. While
Paddock’s “act of pure evil” raised the stakes to become the most numerically
significant wickedness of it’s kind, there is apparently still ample room in
the big tent of white privilege to absorb the villainous stain and the
malodorous stench of being labeled a terrorist.
We are paralyzed
by an inexplicable reluctance, a deficit of courage, and an ideological
intractability that separates us from exercising the necessary resolve to act
in our collective national interest by enacting needed responsible gun
legislation. Moreover, we must embrace the challenge to speak truth to power
and the meek alike by calling a spade a spade, or more aptly a terrorist a
terrorist when events like this are foisted upon us. Even when the perpetrator
is white. Meanwhile, let us pray as we continue to navigate the “Nightmare in Las Vegas: AnotherEpisode of American Gun Violence!”
I’m done; holla back!
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anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.com. Find a new post each Wednesday.
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Consult the links below for more detailed
information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/10/03/las-vegas-shooting-survivor-held-victim-hand-intv-bts-nr.cnn
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