The violence on Saturday in Tucson, Arizona is deplorable. A public servant, her staff, constituents and everyday citizens were attacked. 6 were killed, among them a Federal judge who stopped by to say hi and a 9 year old girl born on 9/11. The gunman, a young man who was just that pissed off, he plotted and planned to assassinate a member of congress. The congresswoman who was shot at point blank range in the head is fighting for her life right now. She was the sole target of this violence but the question remains, why?
Politics is a very passionate aspect of civilization. The issues involved in politics have a very direct impact on our lives and those who hold strong political positions form those positions from a deep place therefore it is natural that discussions about politics often get heated. Sometimes people fall so far to the left or the right of the spectrum that anything on the other side is an abomination. Politics in America is even more divisive because in theory it forces people to pick a side and then defend that side relentlessly. In sane people, politics can start arguments, strain relationships and cause turmoil. In the unstable mind, politics can cause someone to load an automatic weapon and take aim at a representative of government. And when politics gets to that point, we all have to take responsibility for fueling the heated, nasty, hateful debates on both sides of the aisle.
That being said, there is a certain group of people in this country who I believe hold the vast amount of the blame in this current climate of political posturing.
Ever since the election of Barack Obama, there has been this movement brewing in America. Its fundamental purpose has been to “take back our country.” Now you can decide on your own how to interpret that purpose. I interpret that as taking back the country from the Black President and his liberal agenda (but mostly the black part). You see, the Tea Party and its affiliates preach loudly an extremely passionate anti –Obama message. They have vilified the President as someone who wants to take this country out of the hands of its “rightful” owners (White Males) and made him someone who must be stopped. Never do they mention his race directly, but it is clear to anyone who is actually listening, there is an extreme racist undertone to the message of the Tea Party.
The President is protected by the Secret Service. An attempt on his life would be extremely difficult and unlikely successful (still keeping him in prayer though). But those who are align themselves with him and his policies are not as fortunate. As witnessed in Arizona this weekend, members of congress are vulnerable when in their own districts and easy targets for the hateful rage and anger brewing in this country toward the President and government in general. Anti –government groups are not a new phenomenon and neither is crazy. But the level of both has increased in the last 2 years. Furthermore, people who are supposed to be above the fray of crazy are actually given public platforms on television to add fuel to the crazy fire. Sarah Palin constantly tells her supporters, “don’t retreat, reload.” This tagline gets roaring applause. She says this doesn’t advocate violence, but the language is inflammatory and when that language is mixed with genuine crazy, the results are catastrophic. Can you blame Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Republicans, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etc. for what happened to Congresswoman Giffords? No, that blame is with the shooter. But these people must be held accountable for the “anger” they want to tap into for the purpose of votes. They must understand that anger exist due to a deeper hatred that goes far beyond health care and unemployment. The hatred of this country upon which it was built is not a myth. For some time, there was a limited outlet for hatred to be spewed, so some naïve folks thought the hatred was gone. That naïve attitude also believed that racism was over because a Black man was elected President. I think the reverse is true. I believe the election of a Black President actually brought to life the anger that was living below the surface in this country since the civil rights movement. So while the source of the hatred is unrelated to the actually shooting in Arizona, the spark of that hatred ignited a flame in this young man and made him believe that his only recourse to a government that he believed was turning its back on him was to target a member of congress for assassination. Congresswoman Giffords had been threatened; her office was vandalized after she voted for the healthcare reform law. Her district was put on Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs” list for members of congress who should be targeted. And that she was. She was the target because she was accessible. She is the victim of hate. This is what American Politics has come to.
Arizona is a state with a long standing history of hate and bigotry. From the recent immigration laws to their reluctance to acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a holiday (AZ was the last state in the country to recognize the Federal Holiday.) So it is not surprising that this level of violence occurred in this state.
For what it is worth, this event should be appalling to everyone. It should also be a wake up call to those who seek to plant the seed of anger and hatred in everyday citizens without any regard for what that seed may grow into. There are ways to have debates about policy and politics that have nothing to do with hatred and anger. And those who seek to use anger and hate for their own self gain will forever carry the blood of those in Arizona on their hands.
Saturday morning a Congresswoman woke up with the purpose of fighting for those who elected her into office. This morning she is fighting for her life. What part of politics is that?
~Maliek~
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