Newtown, Connecticut; Why I’m not Crying
But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors
-Hosea 10:13
I see beautiful little blond haired girls clinging to their mother’s bosom. I hear violin music. I see big protective fathers in their Patagonia fleeces showing understandable fear and emotion. I hear violin music. I see religious people holding candles, sending up prayers to their compassionate, Johnny Depp resembling God. I hear violin music. I’m glad their God is compassionate because I am not. I’m trying my best to produce tears, to become emotional, to morn, to side with the victims…but I can’t. As much as I want to, I simply cannot cry. Despite all the violin music, pictures of pretty White children, two-second clips of the one Indian family, and shaken parents, I can’t cry. I’m not a real religious man, but I do read the bible. Yesterday, to form some kind of compassion and love, I flipped open the book and stumbled upon this verse in Galatians chapter 6:
A man reaps what he sows.
A man reaps what he sows. A man reaps what he sows. A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS. Let that sink in.
Every day around the world, children die from gun violence. Everyday around the world, the media purposely silences their cries. Instead of CNN reporting on the millions of dead children in the Congo, a place where America profits off its rare Earth minerals, we hear of Lindsay Lohan’s latest run in with the law. Instead of FOX News reporting on the countless youth being murdered in Chicago, a direct result of economic failure and crooked politics, we hear Hannity report on a speech Obama made a decade ago where he used the term “redistribute”. What does any of this have to do with Newtown, Connecticut? Everything. People, White American people in particular, don’t you understand that the chickens come home to roost? How many children have Obama and his administration killed with drones this year alone? I see no candle light vigils for them. Israel has killed many children in their numerous acts of violence and apartheid in Palestine. Obama doesn’t tear up, pause, or look down, he stoically says, “Israel has the right to defend itself”. I saw no candle light vigil for the dead children of Gaza. Why is it that when American children die, White American children in particular, flags have to be flown at half mast, the news must play all day, laws must be changed and adopted, Google must add a banner, moments of silence must be observed, and pins and ribbons must be worn? Why do Americans feel their life has more intrinsic value than other people? One cant keep promoting and perpetrating violence in the world and then act surprised when it knocks on the front door. Americans have eaten the fruit of deception by believing the lie that their children are worth more than other children. Americans have planted wickedness by ignoring the slaughter of children worldwide…from Gaza to Chicago. America is now reaping what it sows. And it’s not pretty. Its time to change our ways and realize that life is to be respected no matter the person’s race, class, nationality, or religion. Then, when another mass shooting occurs, then I will cry.
*As a father of a 6 year old, I don’t even want to imagine what the parents are going through, but to refrain from “planting wickedness”, I have to. My prayers go out to the families.
Question Authority 
By merit of being born in America, all of our lives are at risk?
I strongly disagree with the premise of karma applying to nations rather than people.
…Especially when this wasn’t a response to a foreign attack.
I’m not crying, either. It’s a very unfortunate tragedy – but that’s certainly not what I’m taking away from the situation.
Yes, media is crooked. Yes it gives us a very small sample of a larger story.
But I, via regularly checking international news media, see the tragedies daily and will never compare one to another. My heart cries for my city (Chicago), but it also does for Palestinian children.
No sorrow is more deep or more valuable.
To answer your 1st question, yes we are all at risk. When Nat Turner led the slave rebellion, he didn’t point out good masters from the bad, he killed everyone. So called “terrorists” don’t point out good people from the bad, they kill everyone. Karma is always at work and I believe in “sins of the father”. I believe comparing tragedies is right and just. If one town lacks food for a day and another town lacks food for a month, what tragedy is worse? Which one deserves more attention and action? The emergency room will see a gunshot wound to the head before a fever because one tragedy is worse than the other. The same goes for international events. What tragedy is worse? The 4 year long drone war that kills children everyday or the once in a lifetime event in Connecticut? Ill let you decide.
Cry for all or cry for none. Mankind’s wickedness should not dictate your emotions; your soul should. You can’t pick and choose whom to feel for. And to insinuate that the only reason people feel for these children, their families and the community is because they are white is insulting and ridiculous. This could have happened on the south side of Chicago or in Oakland or in Detroit and it would still be abhorrent. Americans don’t decry the actions in Gaza because it’s not in their own backyard, just as the people in Gaza care less about what happens in the US. Yes, the US has done some terrible things, but we have also done some wonderful things. America is the first to reach out to other countries in times of devastation. I have seen no marathons or concerts in other countries to aid the victims of Hurrcanes Katrina and Sandy. Maybe we’d like a “thank you” once in a while, or for someone to have our back for a change.
Ma’am, with all due respect, I completely DISAGREE with everything you just said. America doesn’t care more about events that happen in “its own back yard” because 9 times out of 10, they caused it. Why is it that there are more Holocaust remembrance services and formal acts of apologies for what the Germans did to the Jews than there are any remembrance services or formal acts of apologies for what America did to the Native Americans…or the Africans…or the Japanese? All these tragedies happened “in our own back yard” correct? Ma’am, there have been 500+ murders in Chicago this year, 500+..there were 30 wounded and 8 killed last weekend alone. Here is a link incase you don’t believe me. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/chicago-shootings-8-kille_n_2232075.html CNN is not reporting on that ma’am. FOX is not reporting on that ma’am. Why aren’t they? Let 2 White people get shot in a mall and its NATIONAL HEADLINES!!!!! You can’t deny that ma’am and you should just accept the fact that White life is valued more in our society than Black or Brown.
Thanks for reading.
I appreciate your thoughts and exactly what I thought after this shooting had happened especially the media’s coverage of this massacre and the Sikh Temple massacre which the media seems to mention just as a pass by. How these two events have been described, how much coverage they have received and how much attention they have received from national leaders…Thank you for putting this out there for discussion. The only way we are going to create change is by having these open and needed discussions. We need more than just gun control laws…we need conscious awakening and understanding in this country and open and real discussions from our national leaders of why people of color continuously are pushed as a side topic…
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[…] Newtown, Connecticut; Why I’m not Crying. […]
THANK YOU for this insightful article.
I’m going to add a little something: My anger & resentment don’t just end with the shooter & his mother. It extends to the outright refusal of those “higher-ups” to act on the issue of gun violence /control, particularly when it happens in either the inner city or areas where violence has been accepted as “commonplace”.
I think the massacre at Sandy Hook has,unfortunately, revealed the willful naïveté & apathy of those who do reside in the “safety” of wealthy suburbs. I specifically mean those in politics & media.
Why did it take the killings of children in a wealthy community for a majority of people in this nation to be “moved” to action? Children in inner cities, and all over the world, have been slaughtered by unnecessary violence for decades. Why wait until NOW to finally “acknowledge” it as problematic when it’s been looking us all dead in the face for so long?
While I feel a tremendous amount of compassion for those that grieve in loss, I also feel a sense of resentment & anger; toward those who have only recently chosen to open their eyes to the gun violence problem—because they now realize it’s not just a problem “in that neighborhood”, but in THEIRS as well.
The truth may hurt America, but we’re not the only victims here. It’s about time we acknowledge this fact on a DAILY & PERMANENT basis.
Thanks for your comment. I agree wholeheartedly with you.
Sandy Hook reminds me a lot of 9/11.
9/11s occur DAILY in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, The Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Yemen, & Pakistan…But because it happened in America, harming mostly white people, its the most “vile, sad, terrible day in modern day history”.
Sandy Hooks occur daily in inner-city America..but because it happened in a wealthy suburb, harming mostly White people, its the most “vile, sad, terrible day in modern day history”.
America must reconcile its misconception that life is only deemed important if one is White or wealthy.
Great composition on the article. I feel what you are expressing, as well as still seeing the love you put into your posting. Keep pushing the masses to open their eyes and stop walking around sleep. Thanks for sharing your passion on the situation and society’s misguidance. Two thumbs up.
Thanks a lot ma’am! I try my best to be the “voice of the voiceless”..keep keeping me inspired & more works will come.
People are reaping what they sow in the hood too. A lot of folks can’t squeeze out any tears for their situation. Focusing on race is like trying to hit a homer in the dugout. Your action is in the wrong arena to be effective.
Most of the world is being herded by people that tell us lies and call it truth, hoard our resources and call us wasteful, and divert our energies into abstractions (money, religion), as a way to control our lives.
If you see someone as a label (white, Muslim, etc.) instead of a person, it becomes easy to detach and dehumanize them. You lose your own humanity as well.
I appreciate the reply! You are absolutely right..
“If you see someone as a label (white, Muslim, etc.) instead of a person, it becomes easy to detach and dehumanize them”.
That comment is true and I agree, but im not using this post to see someone as a label, im using it to bring those “labels” to light. Im not labeling the Newtown children as “innocent victims”, the media is. Im not labeling the thousands of Pakistani droned children as “collateral damage”, the media is. MY job as a writer is to bring certain things into the light, and that’s what im doing with this situation.