Americans As Sitting Ducks, & Our Kids Too
Yes This Is Who We Are & It Does Define Us... But It Doesn't Have To Stay That Way
Happy Valentine’s Day, here in a country where we’ve had yet another mass shooting that surprises millions. Why are we surprised, exactly?
Here’s the latest press conference. Since then, we know that 22 people have been shot including many kids. Kids. Again. One of those 22 people has died.
Every single time we have a mass shooting, we have absolutely predictable news coverage. The same law enforcement professionals are brought to any channel. We have scenes replayed of people running away from something or of police running toward something. Aerial shots of a zillion law enforcement vehicles, ambulances, and fire engines. Interviews of breathless people who never expected to have to duck or shelter or hide when gunshots rang out in a public space or school or church. Interviews of other people saying how this or that day or beautiful event or celebration has now been marred by this horrendous shooting. Interviews of more people or leaders saying “this is not who we are,” or “this is not what defines us,” or “this is not what this city/town/state/country is about.”
Except that it is. It’s totally what we’re about.
Guns have been a part of this country since its very inception. Guns are a huge part of how it was colonized for Europeans.
Blah blah blah. Every time there’s a shooting there are million articles and posts just like this, too.
Then there are hundreds more interviews of elected leaders and nonprofit activists and so on who decry the total lack of action in Congress or at the state level or really anywhere. Prior victims’ families talk about various angles of what people will have to deal with or what hasn’t happened yet or what laws need to pass.
And so on and so on.
Our responses are as predictable as the mass shootings are. The major variable is WHERE. And no one thinks it will happen in their town/city/neighborhood/school/etc. Until it does.
I say all of this because I don’t think we’re going to get decent, transformative change to deal with something like 400 million guns in the US until we have a major mass movement and huge shift in sentiment that sweeps the country and that helps get Democrats elected in numbers that also sweep both the US House and that overwhelm the 60-vote filibuster in the the US Senate.
That’s one heck of a movement, and no one’s currently trying to build it. So far we mostly do the same stuff every election but just more of it and with more volunteers and better tech.
Shouldn’t we build such a movement? Could we?
I’m saying yes. We have a zillion groups and organizations and political structures around the US all set up to do some good. To get voters engaged. To take action on various things. To be Democrats. To be active citizens. To do civil service. And so on.
What if we found ways to build huge coalitions and big, visible, loud persistent action in town after town and state after state?
Rallies and storytelling and parties and marches and talks and huge big visual things and action that Americans and that our news media can’t miss.
Why aren’t we doing it?
We could. I think we need to decide to, for one thing.
Anyway, it’s an idea… and we could go after it. For dealing with gun violence. For the rights of women and kids and LGBTQ+ people and for all humans for crying out loud. We’ve got blatant racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and all kinds of bigotry and we’re sort of watching it in shock.
Let’s get out in our communities and get loud. Let’s drive the public agenda and the public coverage.
We could.
Join this teeny tiny nonprofit with big ideas for doing this sort of thing. There are ways we could do it and it’s not rocket science. It’s a plan and it’s a framework. And… we’ve got baseline seedling funding through this election that can help us get this started. You can, too. Join us. We have options. We can do huge things.
We start twice weekly Shift the Country Zoom calls March 1 to get to work on this. We’re doing an in-person event in central Iowa February 26 in Ames for local folks.
We can get this work going in a few places, and get it to spread. Once we get going, we can also help shape our collective response to future mass shootings so we can raise a bigger ruckus as they occur. Because they will. That we know for certain.
What we don’t know yet is how big of a movement we can create to change that for the long term. So let’s find out what we can do… one group at a time, one town at a time.
Let’s go.