[Wondering-American]

This week’s events at Columbine High School in Littleton, Co., are a tragedy of the most horrid dimensions. My heart goes out to all the victims, their families, friends and their community. I can’t help but wonder, however, given how race-focused we still are in this country, if the national shock, horror and outrage would be any different – more intense, perhaps? – if the shooters of the victims were non-white. What do you think?
Originally R652. Click here to see responses in original archives.

User Detail :  

Name : Wondering-American, City : Washington, State : DC, Country : United States, 

[Me21895]

Of course. And we wouldn’t pay nearly so much attention if the victims were non-white. That’s the obvious and unfortunate reality.

User Detail :  

Name : Me21895, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, 

[Gad21758]

Indeed, a few weeks after the shooting in Santee, Calif., there was another school shooting that happened in a predominantly black high school, in the predominantly black city of Gary, Ind. Once again, there were grieving relatives, teardrops and closed caskets, but the event hardly made a blip in the national radar. Go figure.

User Detail :  

Name : Gad21758, City : Boston, State : MA, Country : United States, 

[RhondaOutlaw]

Let’s be real…in this country, Black life is not nearly as valued as White life. If the shooters had been Black, White America would have had yet another reason to justify it’s distain and loathing of Black people. And if the victims had attended a predominately Black school, the sadness, shock and outrage would not have been nearly as great. Take the drug epidemic during the 80’s…when news correspondents were on the air, talking about the ‘new’ drug epidemic and how it was affecting America’s teens, I had to laugh and shake my head, because they were talking about America’s WHITE teens…drugs had plagued only certain Black communities, White folks did not care. But when they discovered that their ‘perfect’ children were coming into those drug infested communities to buy drugs, and when drugs eventually began to flood THEIR communities, there was this sudden outcry for something to be done, hence this silly ‘War on Drugs’.

User Detail :  

Name : RhondaOutlaw, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 41, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Account Representative, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Author]

Posts