Outrage and Inaction

Knowing what to say at a time like this is difficult. My immediate mental state is despair and outrage. But then, I’ve been outraged since 1999. My son was not quite three. I remember watching the news, seeing the children and families in terror and chaos, and my heart breaking. I wasn’t much older than some of those kids and this horrible tragedy happened in a place I loved to people who were just a step behind me, getting ready to start their lives. And to look at my own child, knowing I would be sending him off to school in a few short years. It’s unbearable. The fear that you may wake up one day to send your child off to school and live the rest of your life without them is an unimaginable terror. But that’s the reality of our country. Guns and profit are more important to legislators, shit to many average people, than the lives of human beings. And rhetoric about freedom and “inalienable rights to law abiding citizens” will always come up. It’s an ad hoc fallacy that doesn’t take in to consideration the inalienable right to LIFE. It is says it right there in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. But let’s be honest, that text is more ambiguous than the Bible.

To know that the country JUST went through this ten, TEN fucking days before another mass shooting happened is too much to bear. The fear that I have felt sending my kids to school for years is the same fear black families, mothers specifically, have every time they send their loved ones out to go anywhere. To school, the park, the grocery store, the gas station, church. Anywhere. This is not ok. How can people not see the special pot of hate this country is brewing?

The funny thing about outrage is that the other side of it is typically inaction. Here’s the loop: tragedy - outrage - inaction - tragedy and so-on. Do I have the answer? No, I don’t. What I do know is that there has been quite a fucking fit being thrown recently, mostly by white male legislators, about the preciousness of life and saving the lives of “children,” which is an argument with more holes than a pair of show tights, and yet here we are when actual living, breathing, Earth-side children are being mowed down at school. Trying to learn, maybe getting the only hot meal they’ll have that day, feeling safe and secure. So until those same “pro-life” legislators actually step up and start giving a shit about very real lives, I don’t think they should be allowed to pass any fucking laws about what does and doesn’t constitute life. Who gives a shit when life begins if you’re not going to do everything in your power to protect it from ending?

I know that our system is broken. I know that telling people to vote is very typical white liberal jargon. I do know that. But I do know that many states are about to vote for Senators, Representatives, Governors, state Supreme Court judges, local judges, aldermen, and policy. Like soon. Please, I beg you, if you are able, take some time to google who is on the ballot in your state, what policies are going to be voted on, and go do it. It’s the last facsimile of democracy we have. Does it work? I don’t know. But we can’t know unless we try. Work to strengthen your community, center the voices of black voices, brown voices, indigenous voices, the voices of people of color in these conversations to make sure that we’re ALL growing and fortifying. Find the places in your immediate surroundings that need assistance, ask what you can do to help, and listen when instructed. Donate to organizations that will make a difference in your community. If you can’t volunteer your money, volunteer your time. Again, if you are white person entering a non-white space always ask permission and match the energy. Do not overstep your bounds. Do only what is asked of you, you’re not a savior.

I will try to put together a list of organizations you can donate to or actionable steps you can take if you want to help. If you know of legitimate, ethical organizations worthy of people’s hard earned money and precious time feel free to tag them below and I will look through them and amplify any that I can.