On Friday December 14th 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Ct was the site of what many are describing as the second deadliest school shooting in US history. The dust is still settling and people are trying to come to terms with why 27 people were slaughtered. 20 of them kids between the ages of 6-7. We are now discovering that some were shot as much 11 times as they hid in corners of their classrooms covered up. This was gruesome. All told, 12 little girls and 8 little boys were murdered.. The other 6 killed, were all women. They were teachers and school administrators who tried to save these children from unthinkable horror.
Understandably many of us are looking for answers… We’re all looking for a nicely packaged, sound explanation as to why this happened. Many are quick to point out that the killer Adam Lanza had mental illness. The popular narrative is a sick man got a hold of some guns and shot up a school..End of story, good night.. And to be honest its true Adam Lanza was sick, but in order to really get to the root of what took place and why, and more importantly how to prevent this from happening again, we are deluding ourselves and doing a disservice to simply place Lanza’s sickness in isolation.
Please read that again and reflect on it…. Lanza is not alone in that sickness…
A Year and a Weekend Filled With Violence Beyond Sandy Hook
Many of us are sick in our denial about the pervasive, far-reaching impact of America’s culture of violence. There are some who just read what I wrote who will get defensive and dismissive and emphatically claim that what I wrote is not true.. But it is.. It really is. We are addicted to violence and turmoil and we’re sick in our collective dishonesty. The sickness is all around us.. The culture of violence is all around us..Here’s a small sampling of what has gone on around the country, since the horrors of Sandy Brook Elementary:
Von I Meyer
On Friday, same day as the Newton massacres, in Cedar Lake Indiana, an elderly man with 47 guns named Von I. Meyer was arrested after threatening to set his wife on fire and “kill as many people as he could” at a nearby Jane Ball Elementary School. You can read about that HERE.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma an 18-year-old student named Sammie Eaglebear Chavez was arrested on Friday as he attempted recruit fellow students at Bartlesville High School to lure them into a school auditorium where he planned to shoot them.. You can read about that HERE.
On Friday the same day as the Newton, Ct massacre in the SF Bay Area the second bomb scare in two days occurred. The one on Friday, went down at the region’s largest shopping center, the Great Mall in Milpitas. Hundreds of shoppers were evacuated. You can read about that HERE.
The day before at Monta Vista High School in nearby Cupertino, which is home to Apple Computers, the was a bomb scare accompanied with graffiti on the school wall threatening to kill a teacher. The school was shut down and evacuated. Students returned to school on Friday morning only to be confronted with news of the carnage going on Newtown. A 16-year-old student was arrested last night. You can read about that HERE.
On Friday night, hours after the Newton, Ct massacre in Las Vegas, a man ran into the Excalibur Hotel and shot a woman and then himself. This tragedy immediately took our thoughts to the situation involving Kansas City Chief football star Jovan Belcher & Kasandra Perkins from 2 weeks ago where the star NFL star killed his girlfriend and then himself leaving their 3 month old without parents..The Vegas murder suicide is something that seems to be happening far too often.. You can read about it HERE.
Marcos Gurrola
On Saturday in Newport Beach, California 42-year-old Marcos Gurrola was arrested for shooting 50 bullets outside of Fashion Island Mall. He was arrested and the mall never shut down, which I think many found disturbing, especially in light of the mall shooting in Portland, Oregon that left two dead, that occurred earlier this week. There the gun man had intended to kill more folks but his gun jammed. In the case of this Newport Beach shooting, police say the mall was reopened because the suspect shot the guns in the air and on the ground.. You can read about that HERE.
In Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday morning 38-year-old Jason Letts, rushed in St Vincent’s hospital and shot a police officer and two other people. The victims survived, Letts was killed by another officer.. This shooting was coming on the heels of a massacre the night before-same day as Newton, shooting where a woman and her two kids ages 4 and 5 were shot and killed. You can read about that HERE.
Early, Saturday morning in Oakland, California, just two hours before a gun buy back program a 37-year-old man shot into a car with 3 people including a woman. Someone from the car shot back.. all four were injured. You can read about that HERE.
On Friday, in Chicago, same day as the Newton massacre, 10 people were shot including 4 teens. By the weekend’s end over 15 were shot. Sadly many upon hearing about this along with the shootings in Oakland and in Birmingham, shrugged their shoulders and thought to themselves; ‘What else is new? This is business as usual‘.
Kids in Pakistan express sympathy to Newtown, Ct victims
Fueled by class and racial bigotry, coupled with an overall climate of where many are mean-spirited, our collective societal sickness hasn’t allowed many of us to see 10 people shot in inner city Chicago connected to those shot in mass shootings in suburban schools, malls and mosques…Our collective sickness doesn’t allow many us to see the humanity in others outside ourselves and our circles of comfort..Seems like many in the hood scoff at the mass murders they hear about going down in the suburbs while man in the burbs are dismissive of the daily killings they hear about in the hood.. And all of us in our collective sickness could give a rats ass about the children killed and carnage caused by drone strikes in foreign lands done in our name.. Our sickness has moved us all in the direction where life is devalued.
Even as I’m penning this article on Sunday afternoon, word is coming out about death threats coming to one of the churches in Newton, Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church was evacuated during its noon mass on Sunday due to a someone calling up and threatening to “kill everyone.”
“My friend didn’t finish the job,” the caller said, according to a church official. You can read about that HERE.
Aurora Theater shooting
This year alone over 15 mass shootings taking place this country. That’s a wickedly high number. From Portland, Or to Aurora,Co to Oakland, Ca to Oakcreek, Wi, to Minneapolis, Mn to the Empire State building in New York City to name a few, no community has been spared. On top of the 15, we have an additional 12 more over the past 4-5 years. there’s been over 60 since the Columbine massacres of April 1999.
Same ole Song Same Ole Script Mass Shootings Are Big Business
One would think our conversations around these tragedies would’ve had advanced over the past 10-12 years. Sadly with each mass shooting incident, we have not moved to heal from the trauma and to take solid steps to make sure such incidents never occur again.. Instead, we’ve seen these mass shootings morph into grandiose television events.
They’ve become the ultimate, bizarre, morose reality TV show similar to the countless car chases we see in LA, where regular programming is interrupted so much so, that we now watch and don’t give a second thought about the crime committed or the victims of those crimes. We’re all caught up in the chase. In the case of Newtown, Ct as sad as it was, far too many of us were caught up in the drama and politics around it vs the very real need for healing. Very few of us recognize that even though this killing may have taken place far away from many of us, we were impacted. Something inside of us needs to heal. many of us are not as compassionate. Not as caring.. Not as concerned.
The way this story has been covered by our esteemed 4th estate, corporate media hasn’t helped in the healing. The day of the massacre, the usual script was followed and things became all too predictable. High priced, news anchors were dispatched to the scene of the tragedy where they stood in front of churches, trying their best to look solemn as they grilled first responders and friends of a friend of a friend who may have known a victim about…
Why did this happen? What do we tell the kids? How long will people grieve? Was the victim mentally ill? We’ve heard these questions asked before
The whole time they are doing these interviews you can literally see these anchors scoping out the terrain with one eye open, angling to one up the competition. Friday reached new lows as we saw reporter after reporter shoving microphones in the faces of 5 and 6 year old kids who were clearly traumatized, asking them how they feel and what they saw etc..In spite of massive complaints on Facebook and twitter, by late last night you still saw little kids trying to explain what its like to hear or see someone shot or walk by dead bodies.. It’s not about healing it’s about being first and getting ratings at all costs. After all as some in the media like to say.. All this coverage doesn’t come free.
Interspersed between these interviews are heartbreaking pictures from Newtown. It’s scenes from candlelight vigils, people praying and faces of people crying in sheer agony with the words Getty images splattered across them, reminding us that as tragic as things may be, some company owns the rights to it. The sights and sounds are all licensed, copy written and trademarked, underscoring the fact that these mass shootings are big business..
End of pt 1 continue by clicking http://hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/thoughts-on-the-newtown-school-shootings-pt2-hard-questions-we-all-must-answer/
I truly thank you brother Davey D for knowledge and point of view. WE are ALL mos def SICK!!!!!!!
Why…Is this Culture so in love with the Violence is all around Us? Since it’s conception I guest it will end this way too
informative article – yellow
Fantastic article. Now if we can just get more people to think like this. Or maybe if we could just get more people to THINK period, something will be done. Violence behavior will never ‘go away’ but we can, and we must, do something to prevent it.
Lordy, what I posted sounds like it came from a total illiterate. What I meant was although violent behavior will never go totally away, we have to do something to cut down on obscene events like Sandy Hook as best we can. And there are things that can be done. No more automatic or semi-automatic weapons, no 30-shell clips, mandatory background checks, eliminate or tighten up control on gun shows.
What needs to be done is how the media covers this sort of tragedy.
Thats why i watch limited national media coverage.
How can a reporter be compelled to interview youngsters like this is crazy.
As for violence its a part of everyday life. When your out in certain areas at certain times make sure you have your head on a swivel.
Random acts are something you can not control.
Respect Davey,..47 victims of so called obesity warrants in the USA 2012,..and the media coverage postponed another white evangelical trash out the backlash of the psy_gan madness. My standpoint of this type to assemble the whole bunch of such boiizzz, who devastatingly have no clear fascist identity concepts is more the bodyment of typa friends who were inter_viewed shortly after these shot out. Yes, these are friends everybody wants, no hetero_sexual ability, isolated by such concepts the lawsuits have in each state and yes, the ongoin isolation of the USA in such drama of 47 victims bails the world in the view sight to say no to the money printing machines the conservatives have for such persons.
The most tragedy of such demon sword is always the raisn question about the pedo_philistic concepts the USA have in terms of migration, anti_Ism and that of a global player.
Then political Hip Hop must not be well versed with the habitually offensive person. Learn the psychology of the repeat offensive person. One, in Ethics, the one who makes the move has the burden of responsibility, so in this case, the defensive person does not have the initial burden. The offensive person, let’s call her a bully, repeats the offense to the defensive person. Two, the psychology of the offender may take a long time to correct because of varied reasons, and a couple of those are that the offender feels pleasure in offending, and that she cannot help it because this habit has an origin in mass media meta_lustful life, unhappiness, dysfunction, etc.
The defensive person has only limited alternatives to choose from 1) distance, 2) compromise 3) and to some extent protection from other people. Other than this, there is not much one can do. The problem isn’t the offense itself, but the repetition of this offense. Psychologists and Cops make a distinction between these acts because these acts have different effects on the victim. Remember, also, that the offender does not have to be the one who continually performs the offense, Cops and the conspiracist fe:male adjourn of being categorized can solicit others to perform the same act to the same person over and over again.
As far as getting away, yes, there are numerous times when political Hip Hop gets away with pushing the defensive person, that is why the treatment depends on where the offense is happening, and who else can help the victim — this would require external intervention.
Also, please note that the problem you posed in the USA implies an ongoing offense to the other, not a one-time offense which is a different story. This is an important distinction.
Maybe I should be a little clearer.
I’m looking for a way for the defensive person to turn the offensive person against oneself through a sense of humor. I don’t really know what “humor” means, so I’m asking how a defensive person can go about getting one.
1) The humans (organic) is qualitatively much different than inorganic (rocks).
2) The differences lie in areas such as memory, sense of qualitative time (Duration), ability to apply impetus (Will), and the ability to make a Choice.
3) Choices are probabilistic in nature: Based upon passed experiences, skills, awareness of current conditions and surroundings, each person has different choices available to himself/herself and different probabilities associated with these choices (e.g the moves a chess player may make).
4) Not every action is necessitated by an actual choice. Some choices are made by habits. Habits are learned over long periods of time and are difficult to break even if one has a choice to break them …
So Mr. Pulitzer Davey D,..my deep respect for ya work,..but remember please the abusiv_ment of the abusive…an old feminist counter_term of use these actions against patriarchal men slaughters…
pii_freu_doin marx_Ism: I know boiiz who were sexual abused the raisin question every time again. This is going to look like a very silly question and maybe should be categorized as “much ado about nothing” and “plain silly” but here goes.
We all know that for multiplication of numbers:
odd x odd = odd
even x even = even
even x odd = even
So how come there aren’t more even numbers than odd numbers?
folkz loosin dey dam mind! (007) hi hater
Reblogged this on BROTHA WOLF and commented:
As always, Davey D says it way better than I could. Check out this article and part II as he breaks down all things wrong with the Newtown school shootings, the culture of violence and the way the media tries to sell it to the public.
I don’t get it.
Why are so many white people killing their own children?
Babies 5-7 years old, junior high and high school aged kids, college kids…why?
It is a given that the U.S. military has no qualms about dropping un-depleted uranium bombs (which have a shelf life of 4.5 billion years) agent orange, and other devastating toxins onto the civilian populations of the continents (Asia, Afrika, and Latin America) where the U.S. government has instigated wars.
It is a given that U.S. officials have no qualms about dropping bombs on Black neighborhoods (Mayor Wilson Goode in the 1985 Osage Avenue bombing in Philadelphia) and/or destroying prosperous Black cities and towns, such as Rosewood in Florida on January 1, 1923; and Tulsa Oklahoma’s “the Black Wall Street” in the Greenwood District, in Oklahoma in 1921.
Plus, every 36 hours (or less) in the U.S., a Black person is killed by police, ‘security’ guards, and/or wanna be police vigilantes. To this country’s government, the lives of people of color have always been – and will always be – expendable.
The enslavement of Afrikan people proved this to be so; a Maafa (holocaust) which continues to this day, rooted in the big business of the prison industrial complex. This has been thoroughly documented in Michelle Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow.”
Thus, even though the killing of their own has not occurred in nearly the same spans of time, nor on the same genocidal scales of mass destruction as has occurred to Afrikan people – still, I ask, why are whites killing their own children,
en masse?
Why are they now slaughtering their own?
We are not killing our children. A 20-year old with serious mental health problems (who should NEVER had access to guns) killed those kids.
BUT having said that I will say that white shooters will kill anyone anywhere that strikes their fancy. They kill multiple people at a time. They kill anyone that is in their way or who they can find. No other race or religion in this country is doing this. It’s white MALES who are doing it. Truthfully, I think that must be a clue, but I don’t know what the answer is. I sure as hell wish I did.
And don’t limit that to guns. Timothy McVeigh used a truck filled with explosive fertilizer. His grudge was against the Federal Government. But he blew up a federal building with a daycare in it. (He may not have targeted children but that is irrelevant.) And he was properly disposed of and it didn’t take years either.
This just breaks my heart those kids had their whole lives to live my heart goes out to their families..talkn
I’m just loss for words…literally!! smdh…all i can say is #guncontrol ..–pink
Hello, my blog friend
Visit my blog for top secret the government never will let you know.
all secret of massacres can be found at minddefensecoach.wordpress.com
Here is the academic choice of ‘critical whiteness’ and self_organization as migrant a term of choice for more militant debates about the who and the _Ism…
Salaam!
By the way: Can someone remember how deep tighten the Arcade games and the evolution of Hip Hop is?
Its just all sad.. (RED)
It’s really heartbreaking… #watchme
great point of view.. gives us all something to think about. -seeme
too much violence, we need more peace, green
so sad – peach
Peace I wonder can black America have one day of non-violence or crime.
Just one damn day of non-violence and no crime against each other.
It could become a new official holiday.On that day all black’s go to their nearest church or mosque or even a library to pray,talk and learn how to live with each other in peace,love and unity.It’s just an idea. Before this black people young and old have been dying daily in this country.Plus,look how many afrikans are being genocided right in our faces. As this event continues to unfold I hope that I don’t have to put up with some excessive religious fanatic trying to convince me to get my soul saved or believe in some fake, distorted story about some jesus.
Amanda,
U livin in some kind of coccoon or isolation for last 20 years.
I ‘ll just say your comments are IGNORANT.
very interesting – people are losing it and its straight up scary – blue
Can we stop using the mental illness claim as an excuse for mass shootings like Aurora and Newtown? These individuals knew where, who, how and when to attack large groups of people. Mental illness is what you see on the streets like skid row in LA or San Francisco where the individual have no concept of where, who and how they act in public. To paint these mass shootings as someone with a mental illness is an insult to those who are truly mentally ill. Anyone notice that the mental illness claim is not used during drive-by shootings in urban areas, but thrown around like the word “diversity” in rural and suburban areas? This may come across as politically incorrect, but this is something that needs to be aired out.
On another note, if the politicians “really” wanted to deal with gun violence, it would have been dealt long ago. But, it is a third rail, like education and the budget deficit, it is too toxic for politicians to tackle if they value their cushy job. And this is coming from someone who deals with this group.
FW Lee if u kill someone you’re sick..not sane.. unhealthy.. period
You know, your post surprised me because I was thinking the same thing way back when the Gabby Giffords thing happened. That guy know what he was doing was wrong. Hell, he left notes that he was going to assassinate her. He had mental problems all right. But not serious enough that he was incapacitated and unable to function. No one ‘normal’ kills , but not everyone that kills is non compos mentis.
Fear of Being committed made adam Lanza snap… http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/12/18/fear-being-committed-may-have-caused-connecticut-madman-to-snap/
All this talk about gun control and heightened security (armed guards, teachers etc) in our children’s schools sounds just as dangerous as it was before the shooting/s. it is apparent that these incidences evolve from years of psychological neglect. Not one of these persons were alone.. They either had families or attended school where it is up to a superior to notice that something is off. People… shouldn’t just ignore or brush off one’s “off behavior”. Basically everyone is to blame. I just hope everyone takes into account how they treat EVERY human being.. If not massacres like this will cease to diminish. The answer isn’t more guns/ less guns, it’s looking out for one another.. Before a person like Adam or any of the other shooters from the past get sick of it all and take it out on others.. I don’t know I just think this all reverts back to bullying, or being outcasted within a society in general.. This whole thing is a tragedy and happens every damn day somewhere in the world.
Deep!
#datzhott (purple) deep