Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Fear and the Gun Lobby
http://magazine.good.is/articles/nra-racism-fear-gun-controlVery interesting perspective on the American Gun Culture from a man of color.
With the dizzying stream of headlines detailing law enforcement slayings of black and brown citizens, most recently exemplified by the Department of Justices damning report on the Ferguson Police Departments racist culture, it seems that the other end of the spectrum, white vigilante justice has faded into the background. Victims of civilians taking the law, and human lives, into their own handsJordan Davis, Renisha McBride, Trayvon Martin, and otherslive on as reminders of how devastating both toxic fear and little gun control can be. Yes, our police on overdrive are symptomatic of a violent, gun-obsessed culture. Yet, as a black male, I have as much reason to fret over being shot dead just for walking on someones porch to ask for help, like Renisha McBride did, as I do getting the wrong cop on a routine traffic stop.
The common American delusion that a gun is the key to safety in an inherently unsafe world (despite all signs pointing to a decrease in violent crime), is not only fallacious; its dangerous. When NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun (in response to the Sandy Hook shootings), one cant help but consider who gets to determine who is good and who is bad in his scenario. Surely if urban blacks, or Arab Muslims for that matter, started clamoring for guns in the same manner as rural, white men, thered be great outcry and antagonism in Gun Nation.
And yet, when an armed white man shoots a person of color dead, as Craig Stephen Hicks did in mid-February when he murdered neighbors Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha execution-style, the official narrative almost never questions the intersection of a weaponized culture and institutional racism. Hicks had 12 guns, and his views on religion, particularly on the Muslim faith that his victims observed, are well known by now. Nevertheless he was mainly cast as a lone wolf angry over a parking dispute. Having found ourselves on the wrong side of white fear and living to tell about it, be it as a victim of a hate crime or of the frequent micro-aggressions we must trudge through in our daily lives, those of us on the so-called margins know that the carefully honed narrative of a guy upset over a parking space, upset enough to take three young lives, is total bullshit.
As an old white guy I cannot in any meaningful way identify with the author. I simple do not have the history or the life experience. One definition of reality is the world as we perceive it and perceptions are based on experience. My reality is simply different and yet on this issue I can get a glimpse into his.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 2256 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (7)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Fear and the Gun Lobby (Original Post)
flamin lib
Mar 2015
OP
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)1. Gun love and racist/bigoted attitudes are definitely correlated. Gun fanciers deny it, but they lie
and make contorted excuses.
To bad we didn't do something about guns decades ago. But, it's not too late. Today's actions might take decades to produce results. But every decade with delay, puts another 100 million guns in gun owners hands, many of them with nefarious intent. It's just not good for society, and gun owners don't care as long as they have easy access to more gunz.
Response to flamin lib (Original post)
Name removed Message auto-removed
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)3. Racist newbie gun troll go bye bye
Bye bye racist gun troll
flamin lib
(14,559 posts)4. Dam, I always miss the good ones . . .