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A reminder not to be silent on gun violence (Rep. Bobby Rush)
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01/16/11 07:38 PM ET
“…I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly…” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16, 1963
I share these words at a time when our nation has, once again, gone through another period of national mourning because of the wanton acts of a disturbed individual with a loaded gun. Undoubtedly, this passage from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is as relevant now as it was when it was written almost 48 years ago.
When my colleague, the brilliant and beloved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was targeted by a gunman on January 8th, in that moment that small, idyllic shopping plaza in Tucson, Arizona became America’s latest ‘Birmingham.’ The brazen, unprovoked attack in broad daylight that left Giffords critically injured, six people dead—including a nine-year-old child—and more than a dozen seriously wounded evoked the outpouring of positive spirit from a shocked nation. In that moment and in the days that followed, King’s view that “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” was the sentiment that held sway in our nation. Our shared grief and concerns for those who survived and those who lost their lives was powerfully on display last Wednesday night at the memorial service where more than 30 million viewers watched as the President lent a soothing voice of comfort and solace to a grateful nation. But what about tomorrow, and the next day and the next? What happens when the TV cameras turn away from Tucson? What happens when the news media and much of the rest of our culture simply overlooks the shattered lives of thousands of grieving families throughout our nation who, each and every day, lose a loved one to gun violence?
Why is it that those extremist voices, who so passionately wail about states’ rights superseding federal rights, literally jumped for joy when, in June 2010, a narrowly divided U. S. Supreme Court overturned a Chicago law that local public officials put in place as a meaningful step to help stem the wave of gun violence?
The most recently compiled data by the University of Chicago shows that in 2008, a total of 510 people were murdered in Chicago. Eighty percent of those victims were killed by gunfire. Nearly half of those who died were between the ages of 10 and 25. Nationally, while handguns account for only one-third of all firearms owned in the United States, they account for more than two-thirds of all firearm related deaths each year. The fact is that a gun in the home is four times more likely to be involved in an unintentional shooting, seven times more likely to be used to commit a criminal assault or homicide and 11 times more likely to be used to commit suicide. None of these statistics, mind you, support the oft-stated mantra of those extremist voices who say they need to bear arms to protect themselves.
Who do they think they’re kidding? Certainly not me and certainly not thousands of other people of good will across our nation.
I have no idea what Dr. King would say or do about the thousands of lives that are lost in our nation, each year, due to gun-related violence. But I do know he would not be silent.
He would not be silent like so many leaders—on the political left and the right—who continue to refuse to stand up to the powerful and well financed interests in our country who believe hand guns should be readily available with little to no background checks. A common sense measure like this might have prevented the Tucson gunman from damaging or destroying so many lives.
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
My prayer on the day we mark the life and meaning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is that we heed his words once again and engage in the work necessary to put an end to the carnage wrought by gun violence.
I, for one, will do my part to make a difference.
I share these words at a time when our nation has, once again, gone through another period of national mourning because of the wanton acts of a disturbed individual with a loaded gun. Undoubtedly, this passage from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is as relevant now as it was when it was written almost 48 years ago.
When my colleague, the brilliant and beloved Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was targeted by a gunman on January 8th, in that moment that small, idyllic shopping plaza in Tucson, Arizona became America’s latest ‘Birmingham.’ The brazen, unprovoked attack in broad daylight that left Giffords critically injured, six people dead—including a nine-year-old child—and more than a dozen seriously wounded evoked the outpouring of positive spirit from a shocked nation. In that moment and in the days that followed, King’s view that “whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly” was the sentiment that held sway in our nation. Our shared grief and concerns for those who survived and those who lost their lives was powerfully on display last Wednesday night at the memorial service where more than 30 million viewers watched as the President lent a soothing voice of comfort and solace to a grateful nation. But what about tomorrow, and the next day and the next? What happens when the TV cameras turn away from Tucson? What happens when the news media and much of the rest of our culture simply overlooks the shattered lives of thousands of grieving families throughout our nation who, each and every day, lose a loved one to gun violence?
Why is it that those extremist voices, who so passionately wail about states’ rights superseding federal rights, literally jumped for joy when, in June 2010, a narrowly divided U. S. Supreme Court overturned a Chicago law that local public officials put in place as a meaningful step to help stem the wave of gun violence?
The most recently compiled data by the University of Chicago shows that in 2008, a total of 510 people were murdered in Chicago. Eighty percent of those victims were killed by gunfire. Nearly half of those who died were between the ages of 10 and 25. Nationally, while handguns account for only one-third of all firearms owned in the United States, they account for more than two-thirds of all firearm related deaths each year. The fact is that a gun in the home is four times more likely to be involved in an unintentional shooting, seven times more likely to be used to commit a criminal assault or homicide and 11 times more likely to be used to commit suicide. None of these statistics, mind you, support the oft-stated mantra of those extremist voices who say they need to bear arms to protect themselves.
Who do they think they’re kidding? Certainly not me and certainly not thousands of other people of good will across our nation.
I have no idea what Dr. King would say or do about the thousands of lives that are lost in our nation, each year, due to gun-related violence. But I do know he would not be silent.
He would not be silent like so many leaders—on the political left and the right—who continue to refuse to stand up to the powerful and well financed interests in our country who believe hand guns should be readily available with little to no background checks. A common sense measure like this might have prevented the Tucson gunman from damaging or destroying so many lives.
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
My prayer on the day we mark the life and meaning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is that we heed his words once again and engage in the work necessary to put an end to the carnage wrought by gun violence.
I, for one, will do my part to make a difference.
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