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The Cup Is Not Yet Filled……
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Ho-hum. Yawn. Pause. Another shooting. Another killing.
Another innocent person dies at the hand of a person who has
either a mental health issue or a beef or a grudge against
someone known or even unknown.
Such tragic news comes on the TV. or the radio and with
casual indifference, unless, of course, you are the relative
or friend or co-worker of the newly departed, such grim
headlines only cause a quick headshake and maybe a prayer
for the living who barely missed being killed in the same
assault.
And then it is off to the next pressing issue – be it
finding a mall parking space close to the main entrance or
waiting in line at that special diner or choosing which
commentator or talking head to believe about the latest NSA
boondoggle.
Depending upon which poll you believe, it is said that
since the massacre at Sandy Hook there have been 10,000
killings. It is almost as if you could silence all of the
noise except the gunfire in these United States, that you
would constantly hear: piffff…piffff or pop! pop! or bang!
bang!
Imagine a daily diet of the smell of gunpowder and the
wail and cry of people bemoaning another casualty or a loss
to their family of an innocent who was either in the wrong
place at the wrong time or was gunned down for some real or
imaginary hurt or harm.
And Congress, being beholden to and terrified of the
supposed power of the NRA, cower under their collective
desks and when prodded to do something, even something lame
and small, they cringe at the very thought of the NRA, as a
monster stalker, who will drown them in opposition ads when
and if they decide to run again.
Of course, we as a nation do the right thing. We air
our outrage on Piers Morgan and MSNBC and rant and rail
about the needless loss of life and how we should do
something about this national carnage but, in the end, when
the gunpowder smoke clears, we all come out of hiding and
brush the lint off of our clothes and gingerly walk to our
brunches and PTA meetings and do not remember who was shot
just a week ago.
When will it end you say?
Let me be very clear about when it will end, and there is an
ending date, but that date will not be birthed until this
cup of blood is running over. Running over from the spilt
blood of white innocents.
Until we have monthly Sandy Hooks and Columbines and
the theatre shootings such as Aurora Colorado, the cup is
not yet filled.
Until we witness more mental and emotional scarring
where we see more white youths and white families mowed down
and their blood trampled in the streets, the cup is not yet
full.
Until there are repeated and continual mass shootings in
White Plains, NY and Scottsdale, Arizona and Chevy Chase,
Maryland and Beverly Hills, California, and other such
ensconced enclaves of wealth and privilege, the cup is still
awaiting to be filled to the brim.
Being poor and white and being poor and black simply
does not cut it with those demographics being the engine
behind gritty gun control laws.
Until more white mothers and white fathers are seen
weeping uncontrollably on the six o’clock news and they use
their clout to tell Congress, “That’s enough!” and they tell
the NRA to stand down, the cup is still lacking.
Why white fathers and mothers? Simple. Other urban areas
such as Chicago and NYC and LA have been routine and ongoing
shooting galleries with black-on-black crime and although
the numbers are mind numbing and horrific, it is not enough
to cauterize the flow of blood.
You see. The cup. Fills up faster. And means more. If
the blood is from white folks…not black folks. The ongoing
shooting galleries in the large urban cities in which
minorities are engaged in acts of warfare against each other
is not enough to fill the cup.
After all, remember in the U.S. Constitution, a black
person was deemed to be only 3/5’s of a person and as such
they did not measure up or have the same value as white
people. So, they losing their blood is only 3/5’s as
valuable as a white person losing the same amount of blood.
What am I saying? Until there is a national ongoing
outrage regarding such killings, black or white against
anyone black or white, the cup is still there, waiting to be
filled.
Until there is a national roar that reasonable gun
control is not an option any longer, the cup sits idly by,
waiting to be filled.
Until the slaughter of the innocents, be it mostly
white kids in Sandy Hook or black kids in Hough in Cleveland
or in East St. Louis stops, we are all losers and are
slowing losing our collective will to stop the bloodletting.
So, unless we mobilize and say stop this madness, we
can only hope, in that perverted and warped sense of the
word, to have more meaningful massacres of white kids and
white folks.
Until they pull their levers of power and money and
give Congress an ultimatum and tell the NRA and others who
worship at the altar of unrestricted firepower that many,
many of these killings can be prevented by reasonable gun
control, nothing will happen.
If not, watch the cup. It is still thirsting for more
blood.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
Tolliver@Juno.com |
