America Will Never Fight Against Gun Violence
We live by the gun and die by the gun
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America loves holidays. Any excuse to escape the 9 to 5 grind, even for a day is cause for celebration. Memorial Day weekend kicks off the beginning of summer, and that translates to a fun and relaxing time with loved ones. The imagery of barbecuing outdoors and kicking back with iced beverages comes to mind.
This year feels soberingly daunting as I slowly emerge from my cracked shell after months of weathering health issues, while accommodating the consequences of forcing myself back to where I never wanted to be.
Life is hard and it has become a lot harder ever since a global pandemic became our brutal reality. Spending two years in the masterclass of social distancing has produced a level of paranoia that keeps escalating with each passing day.
Perhaps it was too soon to accept an ill-fitting corporate job that also subs as the breeding hub for a deadly virus that won’t stop mutating. Aside from the additional stressors stemming from a thyroid condition that’s finally stabilizing after months of ups and downs, there’s also the re-assimilation into society, as a working woman who barely recognizes her former city.
Everything is different and that’s both disconcerting and reassuring at the same time. New York City is more violent than ever, but so is the entire country.
The past few weeks have been a heartbreaking season of death and destruction. Innocent lives shattered by the disease of white supremacy that dictates how a white male feels compelled to storm a grocery store in a primarily Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York and shoot up the place — killing 10 people, most of them elderly.
We hadn’t fully processed the Buffalo shooting massacre, and the fact that it happened days before the two-year reminder of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a racist Minneapolis cop, before being hit with the horrific news confirming a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.
A lone gunman, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos invaded the grounds of Robb Elementary and managed to outwit police officers on the scene who weren’t able to prevent the armed and dangerous teen from entering the school premises.
