Dept. of Horror
Monday, 4 July 2022 01:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rIndependence From What, Exactly?
I'm sorry.
I was going to write something different on this Independence Day. I'd even started. the process. It wasn't the type of optimistic commentary I used to post about this country. But it did have something of hope in it. Here's how far I got:
Some people say our country has changed fundamentally in the last seven years, especially with the Supreme Court’s recent theocratic and authoritarian rulings. However, I think it more accurate to say veils that once hid our country's fundamental flaws from those of us at or near the top of society are being torn mercilessly away, forcing us to recognize the fact that our country was built with violence toward those at or near the bottom.
It doesn't mean I love our country less; it means that the love I bear forces me to see the flaws, and challenges me to fight them, to change them, to erase them. That will take more than individual effort; it will take a community, a nationwide chain of communities, and the effort will be long, hard, and often heartbreaking. But it will be worth it.
How can I say that now?
A Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago.
Six dead so far, 31 injured and taken to two hospitals (24 in one, the rest to another; most of the injuries gunshot wounds.) Chaos (TW for smartphone pics taken by bystanders; no blood posted on Twitter.)
One shaky description of the shooter. Small build, white, longer black hair, tee-shirt, 18-20 years of age. An apparently young guy still on the loose.
I've listened to a doctor who was on the scene with his family, saying that while he'd never served in the military, he'd served in ERs where he's cared for horrific injuries. What he saw in the first people he reached, he said, were "horrific, massive injuries."
Reports of young kids lost, separated from their parents or caregivers. Abandoned bicycles and cars decorated in red white and blue bunting. Abandoned chairs people had been sitting in to watch the parade.
Rifle? Rifles? AK-15, or similar semi-automatic weapon?
That I can say "Hey, at least it's not as bad as Buffalo; it's definitely not Uvalde" is unbelievably, indescribably horrible.
Happy Independence Day, America.
I'm sorry.
I was going to write something different on this Independence Day. I'd even started. the process. It wasn't the type of optimistic commentary I used to post about this country. But it did have something of hope in it. Here's how far I got:
Some people say our country has changed fundamentally in the last seven years, especially with the Supreme Court’s recent theocratic and authoritarian rulings. However, I think it more accurate to say veils that once hid our country's fundamental flaws from those of us at or near the top of society are being torn mercilessly away, forcing us to recognize the fact that our country was built with violence toward those at or near the bottom.
It doesn't mean I love our country less; it means that the love I bear forces me to see the flaws, and challenges me to fight them, to change them, to erase them. That will take more than individual effort; it will take a community, a nationwide chain of communities, and the effort will be long, hard, and often heartbreaking. But it will be worth it.
How can I say that now?
A Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, a wealthy northern suburb of Chicago.
Six dead so far, 31 injured and taken to two hospitals (24 in one, the rest to another; most of the injuries gunshot wounds.) Chaos (TW for smartphone pics taken by bystanders; no blood posted on Twitter.)
One shaky description of the shooter. Small build, white, longer black hair, tee-shirt, 18-20 years of age. An apparently young guy still on the loose.
I've listened to a doctor who was on the scene with his family, saying that while he'd never served in the military, he'd served in ERs where he's cared for horrific injuries. What he saw in the first people he reached, he said, were "horrific, massive injuries."
Reports of young kids lost, separated from their parents or caregivers. Abandoned bicycles and cars decorated in red white and blue bunting. Abandoned chairs people had been sitting in to watch the parade.
Rifle? Rifles? AK-15, or similar semi-automatic weapon?
That I can say "Hey, at least it's not as bad as Buffalo; it's definitely not Uvalde" is unbelievably, indescribably horrible.
Happy Independence Day, America.
