My blog article on June 14, 2016 was titled When The Lights Go Out. It was motivated by the fact that two days prior, on June 12th, a gunman had walked into the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed 49 people who had done nothing to him.
That was a mass shooting, which is defined as any incident of gun violence in which three or more people are killed. I expected that as soon as television cameras shifted away from the scene of that horrific act, the act itself and the victims would fade from the consciousness of a nation that had become so accustomed and shamefully immune to the trauma of gun violence. I knew that, because that is how we are. I was right. It should be noted that 2016 was not even 6 months old when the Orlando killings occurred. Yet, there had already been 133 mass shootings in the United States that year. But that was not a prominent discussion in the news because, in every one of those instances, the media had already left and, with them, the attention of our nation.
Since that blog article on June 14, 2016, we have had too many mass shootings to even count. Here are just a few:
Sept. 23, 2016: Burlington, Wash., 5 killed; Jan. 6, 2017: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., 5 killed June 5, 2017:
Orlando, Fla., 5 killed; Oct. 1, 2017: Las Vegas, 58 killed
Nov. 5, 2017: Sutherland Springs, Texas, 26 killed; Feb 14, 2018 Parkland, FL, 17 killed
May 18, 2018: Santa Fe, Texas, 10 killed; Oct. 27, 2018: Pittsburgh, 11 killed; Nov. 7, 2018:
Thousand Oaks, 12 killed; Feb. 15, 2019: Aurora, Ill., 5 killed; May 31, 2019: Virginia Beach, Va., 12 killed;
Aug. 3, 2019: El Paso, 22 killed; Aug. 4, 2019: Dayton, Ohio, 9 killed
That blog article that I wrote in response to Orlando remains apt today and, in the wake of the massacres that have just happened in El Paso, TX and Dayton, Ohio this week, I have been moved to share the sentiments that I expressed that blog article, with only minor revisions.
Today, as I did then, I mourn with the families of the victims, although I did not know either the victims or any of the families. In an underlying spiritual way, I can think of them as family and friends because I am conscious of the unfolding and unspoken experiences in the journey of my own human experience; a journey which only my Maker fully understands. Therefore, as I approach the twilight of my human existence, I am increasingly reminded of my connectedness to others, even those that I might have felt the urge to abhor at certain points in my life.
To say that I am frustrated by the frequent spate of murderous violence by gun-wielding haters in the United States would be an understatement. Of course I am frustrated by the level of violence around the world and I have written about that in relation to many countries, including the land of my birth, but that is not what this article is about. Nor is it about the degree of my frustration, or even about me. It is instead about the United States and our unwillingness to stem the tide of spiraling gun violence in this country.
In a country where we emphasize our collective identity and our strongly held belief in choice, as well as its associated consequences, it is increasingly baffling to understand why incidents like this should not be considered within the context of our collective choice and consequences. I recall that incident after incident, President Obama addressed the country and begged for support to restrict access to assault weapons. Each time, our political representatives rejected his pleas and chose to allow deafening megaphones to be turned up against the President from our homes, streets, churches and legislatures across our country – especially the U.S. Congress. Each time, his efforts were stifled – and too many of us watched either in silence or in gleeful states (nonchalantly, in some cases) and allowed our politicians to be bought and sold by lobbyists whose interest in the safety of our communities and our humanity seemed to be outweighed by their insatiable appetite for power, money and fame. We did that despite knowing that the next mass shooting was around the corner and the death toll might be higher than the one that just occurred. The consequences of our collective choice are always the same: another incident of mass killings by assault weapons, then media lights that shine on the new city and the mourners for a week or so; and then we move on and forget.
As I have followed the news reports, it has been difficult to maintain a steady state of emotions without asking questions that I know I will ask again and again until we give up our collective amnesia. How is it that an American can go into an American club, a supermarket, a restaurant, a garlic festival, a family event or a school and carry out such an assault on innocent people who did not know him and were not at war with him? Why is it that he would send them to their graves so prematurely, just because he could? How is it that in so short a time after some of these incidents, supposedly religious people of faiths that include mine applaud the killings (as they did with the Pulse Nightclub) and try to justify such dastardly acts through religious lenses that are warped at best? How is it that we can go to bed and wake up every morning knowing that this too shall pass but also knowing that nothing will be done legislatively to stop the next mass gun killings? How is it that we can even think that emphasizing that the location of a mass murder was a gay club or Vegas strip or anywhere at all makes it alright for one of us to go there and kill our brothers and sisters who God made in His own image – just like every one of us?
How is it that we can avoid grieving as a nation when so much of the rest of the world recognizes the hurt and grieves over what has happened here? How is it that so many of us act as if the power of life and death is in our hands? How is it that we can act and speak as if we have been granted the right to determine who belongs or does not belong in heaven or in this world? Why do some of us still support a man who tells us through the world’s most powerful megaphone, which he commands by virtue of his authority, that some human beings are less worthy than others because of their race, ethnicity and/or immigration status? How did our world get to this place where man now seems to believe that God was wrong when He said: “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy”? Or that Paul was wrong when he said that if righteousness was based on the law, then the death of Christ was in vain.
In all of this, I have become convinced that our world’s biggest and toughest blight is our hatred for others who do not fit the mold that we prescribe. We argue over assault weapons despite knowing that their only purpose is to kill. Yet, we must have them because we are so full of hatred toward others and we want to be able to kill them when we decide to. We hate when we should love and we become arrogant when we should be humble and compassionate. We judge when we shouldn’t, then we hate even more. In our judgment, arrogance and hatred, we diminish the value of others and fail to realize that God made them as they are.
Today, tomorrow and every day for the foreseeable future, media lights will continue to shine on El Paso and Dayton – until most of the murdered victims are buried, or until the next mass gun killings occur. At this moment, I am concerned about what happens when the lights go out. I am concerned because I know that this incident will again fade from our collective consciousness because that is what always happens. When lights go out is when the true character of a person or society comes through. On this fact, we have not been at our possible best as a country. May I never forget Sandy Hook, Orlando, Las Vegas, Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Parkland, El-Paso, Dayton or any of the others even when the lights go out.
Once again, the lights will go out. Then what?
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So sad…so numbing. Humanity has lost its humaneness. no value, absolutely none is attached to life,even in God’s own country! Gun control laws need to be reviewed and promptly too. No man should play God, no matter the situation or angst!
You are very right. None of what we are seeing now makes any sense.
I have nothing to add to this brilliantly expressed thoughts and emotions. I also have nothing to add to the Catholic U.S. Bishops’ document on a related topic titled, ” The Enduring Call to Love: A Pastoral Letter Against Racism,” which states: “Despite many promising strides made in our country, the ugly cancer of racism still infects our nation. Racist acts are sinful because they violate justice. They reveal a failure to acknowledge the human dignity of the person offended, to recognize them as the neighbors Christ calls us to love.” It goes further, “Every racist act – every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity, or place of origin – is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God”. We have enough words, genuinely meant or not, but we need more action. I choose to be optimistic that the bigger light never deems and will eventually illuminate our seeming perpetual darkness. Amen
There is no way to say or write this better. If we could just practice what you have expressed, our world would definitely be a much better place. Thanks.