Guns and Black History Month

Fellow mommy writers I'm sure you can relate and I apologize in advance for any poor grammar that occurs-the twins are screaming in my ears as I struggle to get this down. My time is limited. I can only write in increments, which makes it difficult when I have a bunch of things I need to say. I had written what I considered to be a beautiful post about gun control, and how the debate should really be focusing on the illegal sales of hand guns flooding poor neighborhoods,destroying black communities. Considering this is Black History Month, I thought it would be the perfect time to discuss the issues still plaguing our community-despite the progress we have made. I wrote all of this and more, only to have it deleted. I don't know how and I don't know why but I think it has something to do with the fact that I saved a draft to take care of the screaming twins...so I'm trying again. Again, I apologize for any mistakes. I posted a quote from Harry Belafonte's acceptance speech at the NAACP Image Awards, which eloquently speaks to my point: "THE GROUP MOST DEVASTATED BY AMERICA’S OBSESSION WITH THE GUN IS AFRICAN AMERICANS. ALTHOUGH MAKING COMPARISONS CAN BE DANGEROUS, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THEY MUST BE NOTED. AMERICA HAS THE LARGEST PRISON POPULATION IN THE WORLD AND OF THE OVER 2 MILLION MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO MAKE UP THE INCARCERATED… THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY IS BLACK. THEY ARE THE MOST UNEMPLOYED… THE MOST CAUGHT IN UNJUST SYSTEMS OF JUSTICE… AND IN THE GUN GAME… THE MOST HUNTED. THE RIVER OF BLOOD THAT WASHES THE STREETS OF OUR NATION… FLOWS MOSTLY FROM THE BODIES OF OUR BLACK CHILDREN. YET AS THE GREAT DEBATE EMERGES ON THE QUESTION OF THE GUN, WHITE AMERICA DISCUSSES THE CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE OF OWNERSHIP WHILE NO ONE SPEAKS TO THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR RACIAL CARNAGE." I would go one step further. Not only are we hunted, but we are doing the hunting. This is unacceptable. I also talked about this in a controversial article I wrote some time ago about my support of the New York City Police Department's Stop and Frisk Policy called Blame perps, not cops: Politicians who endlessly protest stop and frisk are giving short shrift to the disease of youth violence Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/blame-perps-cops-politicians-endlessly-protest-stop-frisk-giving-short-shrift-disease-youth-violence-article-1.991687#ixzz2K8CIDZYwhttp://www.nydailynews.com/opinion Forget the assault weapons ban, which is the center of the debate: it's not that I'm not sympathetic to the Sandy Hook massacre. It was a horrific tragedy, which brings tears to my eyes every time I think of those innocent children. I can understand the need for a ban on assault weapons however, the whole thing has become political theater and it's quite sickening and is not addressing the real issue: illegal handguns that make their way into states like New York and Chicago, which do have strict gun laws and end up killing innocents. We, can have all the legislation in the world banning weapons but it means nothing if those laws can be circumvented, simplly by adding or deleting a feature of the gun, which is what happens when new legislation is introduced. (Also gun sales always peak whenever there is talk of gun control) We can't leave it up to gun control advocates, or President Obama to address this issue-it's all politics to them. And, let's face it, the issue of gun control has been around forever. No politician ever deals with the threat of gun violence the way somebody living in the ghetto does. Politicians, the gun lobby, and even gun control advocates can wait years for bills to pass; young Black men and women living in high crime areas can not. So I would urge all of our leaders, singers, actors, entertainers, writers: to speak the truth about how gun violence portrayed in movies and music really does influence impressionable minds, not only mentally ill, but those who are poor, or lack respect in every day life and see guns as a means of attaining power. I agree with the talking heads who blame movies, video games and entertainment for the increase in violence we are seeing. Since being on maternity leave, I've been watching a lot of t.v. I happened to be watching Good Times the other day and the episode dealt with gun control. The irony that Good Times takes place in a Chicago ghetto was certainly not lost on me. The fact that the gun issue featured on the episode was a cause of concern during the 1970's just proves that the more things change the more they stay the same. Chicago has a homocide rate of 506 deaths per year, as of 2012. Also, you are more likely to get shot and killed in Chicago, than in Afghanistan! (Since 2001 more than 5,000 people have been killed by gunfire in Chicago) The murder rate in Chicago is twice that of Los Angeles and four times higher than New York’s rate. Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/257478/more-americans-killed-in-chicago-than-in-afghanistan/#DxMf34zSkGiWuMYl.99 It is no surprise of course that Chicago, the most segregated city in America, produces such grim statistics. Is no value placed on Black life? The death of 15 year old Hadiyah Pendleton, the young woman from, you guessed it-Chicago-who played at the President's inauguration only to be shot down days later while standing under a canopy with her friends is symbolic in that she lived about a mile from where the President is from. Talk about bringing the argument home. Since I live in New York City, I have to bring the argument here: Commissioner Ray Kelly made an important point when speaking on Face the Nation. The problem plaguing us where guns are concerned, is the handgun. Kelly said "The problem is the handgun. 60% of the murders in New York City are caused by handguns, and we simply have too many of them," Yes. Simply put, there are. I have two young black boys I am trying to raise and I hate to know that I have to worry about their lives every time they walk out the door. As a patriotic American, I support the second ammendment, however, I'm not sure this is what our founding fathers envisioned when they gave us the right to bear arms...but then again-if they could see how many Black folks were dying as a result of all the guns flooding the streets, I wonder what they would have thought ...hmmm...perhaps this is the whole point of the gun lobby. An ingenious new form of genocide... Uggh oh, the whimpering has begun-and has become full blown wailing. I've got to go. To be continued...next topic: immigration...