How gun control and racial violence are more similar than different...

I've been sitting around for a couple of days, trying to let all that has happened kind of marinade in my head, and I've been trying my best to cope with the insanity. Yesterday was harder than most, but I managed to make it through. And as the days have gone along, I noticed more and more white people speaking up against the police violence- saying that they'd had enough and were no longer going to be silent.

Then some cops got shot.

And, predictably I'd say, the conversation about people being killed by the police turned into a manhunt for the shooter, and the only reason the shootings made it into the news at all was as a reference point for the police being shot (the event everyone was at was a protest to speak against the reckless deaths of Philando Castile, Delrwan Small and Alton Sterling- three men who had been shot by police in the last 3 days). As this was happening, I had to wonder what it was that allowed people in society to just forget about these travesties days later, and it hit me like a load of bricks- it's really similar to gun control. Here's how that works...

When there's a shooting or some situation where a gun was abused and people are senselessly killed, there is an immediate, and predictable response. People lose their damn minds, for a few days- Facebook Activism is at its zenith- everyone talking about what we need to do to garner real change. And so when there's a catalyst, the people are quick to respond and indignant in their pitch. Here's the problem- the people who are against gun control, the 2nd amendment zealots who are the lifeblood of the National Rifle Association, are also focusing on protection of gun rights, as vigorously and indignantly as the people who want guns to be curtailed. Here's the problem though: when the conflict ends and all the conversations about gun control are quieted for whatever reason it happens to be, the gun rights advocates are still pushing their agenda, working just as hard if not harder in the shadows and not under the watchful eye of liberals....

...by the same accord, when there's an unjustifiable shooting of a black man, it's a big deal to some of us- but it's a big deal to some of us everyday. Some of us are the Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense- a group that's on the front lines every. damn. day. trying to foster change. But for the most part,  people forget when the news cycle ends. The problem is, just like the NRA, racists don't take a day off- they're always trying to continue oppressing people who don't have the power to fight back and to shoot and kill people who want to fight against the power structure.

There are more racists than people fighting racism with all they have, and the critical mass is too non-invested to facilitate any true change...