Monday, April 16, 2007

Our Violence (Virginia and elsewhere)

I am in tears because of the news and at first I was surprised, like I was one certain September. But, now that I’ve had a minute, I know where this stems from and that we shouldn’t be surprised. Every time this happens we blame violent films, parents, terrorists or whatever other rhetoric has been made popular. The fact is that all of it is to blame and most importantly WE are to blame. No one can agree on gun control and it shames me that the first statement our idiot of a president (I refuse to capitalize it) makes in regard to children getting murdered is that we have a right to bear arms but we should use it responsibly.

What is responsible, mister bush? Are we responsible when we demean our culture to half-naked women who would rather have a firearm as a prosthetic than to be strong in more human ways? Is it responsible when we send children to kill children overseas? Is it responsible when we call people who defend themselves terrorists and then blame such terrorists for our own irresponsibility with our own children on our own soil at the schools we made?

Guns and bombs are bad. They have endangered our animal friends, they have polluted our soils and they do not defend anything except the destruction of all that is good in the world. And by the way, while I find bush’s words totally offensive, I do not blame him for this. I repeat, WE are to blame. We have allowed our country to occupy the lands of peaceful people so that we can exploit them. Why do you think we are eating ourselves from the inside? Why do you think that we have repeated massacres such as this one? Don’t think that once this idiot is out of office all will be well. What we’ve done did not occur in eight years time. It has been there since we stole the beautiful fruit of Africa. And it will continue to be with us until we just admit it. The U.S. is a violent nation. We invade peaceful peoples and their rich lands, and this is driving our population to madness. We will be sick until we admit what we’ve done and apologize for this sick, sick rape of our Mother Earth and her children.

I do know that many of us want to make reparations, to African Americans, to the countries we invade, to the children we neglect, to the victims of gun and war violence. I know this because there is a tax protest. I have a previous blog about that. Unfortunately, our government is suing tax protesters. I will be watching the results of that lawsuit closely, and taking notes.

I should also mention that Toro, the amazing poet and my husband, writes of our self-destruction in his yet unpublished Gods and Guns. Many of you have heard his epic poem "From Big Bang to Columbine," which is part of this collection. He often wonders why this work hasn't been published yet and I can only say that it is because no one wants to admit the truth, especially when it comes from the mouth of a Puerto Rican. I am honored to direct you to his link at the sidebar of this page. I also think it is no coincidence that he and I now live in the state that spawned our idiot leader and that spawned the two previous massacres of this type (in Killeen, Texas and at my sister school, UT-Austin). Pray that God uses us to promote change and healing in this injured place.

Share with me, peoples, share. Cuz I needs ya.