(ThySistas.com) In one weekend, El Paso and Dayton, thirty-one people died due to mass shootings. The Sunday prior three people died at a festival in Gilroy, California. Though the current administration won’t state the obvious, it’s safe to say domesticated terrorism is a great threat to national security. What will the leadership of this nation do about the bloodshed in this country? It’s easy to suspect they will do nothing as they won’t be honest about the situation by saying two words…domestic terrorist. To use those words would mean leadership would be forced to acknowledge that white men own this area. It would mean admitting better gun control laws are necessary.
Unfortunately, it is an uphill battle getting this government to admit that changes are needed even when faced with the death of their own citizens. This lets us know that government isn’t about the people, and if there is to be change the people will have to rise up and fight for their community and their right to live. The only problem is each shooting tends to make us feel more disconnected. If not careful, we are no longer able to mourn the loss of our fellow citizens because we are numb, we can’t feel it.
In the aftermath of these shootings I begin to hear people speak about feeling numb. They heard about the tragedy and went about their day as if nothing happened. It was the feeling of…it happened again; okay nothing is going to be done about it. Activism is difficult when you can no longer feel the pain of the people. Sometimes this numbness happens as a self-protection measure. Constantly looking at the news and seeing death unchecked can take a toll on one’s mental health. With all of this being understood it is important that we don’t lose our ability to feel. Those that should be leading, and enacting change don’t feel either and its not because they are numb; they simply don’t care about anything but their personal agenda.
The truth is none of us are safe from the horrors we see on the news. None of those people killed woke up knowing if they went to Walmart, a bar in a historic district, or a festival they would be shot and killed. Those injured didn’t know that fate would await them. This is important because we all wake up in the morning and go about our day assuming we’ll make it safely to our destination, and home again. How hearts have to ache for those that lost their loved ones as we could find ourselves in their shoes. That isn’t a call to live in fear, but to remain vigilant in the fight against the violence that plagues this country.
Life can force us to feel. If we were to get a phone call that our child, spouse or any family member was in the location of an active shooting our hearts would stop. We would feel everything. We couldn’t get enough communication as we are praying our loved one isn’t one of the fatalities. In this moment there is no such thing as desensitized. Even if it’s your neighbor, thought it’s not a relative, it’s too close to home. In this space you hope others in this country will stand with you in the pain that has darkened your doorstep. This is in part why we can’t allow the numbness to take over. In that space the evil leading us wins, and we continue to lose members of a much larger community…that of humanity.
Staff Writer; Chelle’ St James
May also connect with this sister via Twitter; ChelleStJames.