Let's end the violence

Friday, Jun. 26, 2015

On the evening of June 17, a man entered Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. and sat with the Bible study group for an hour before pulling a gun and killing nine people. According to news reports, the suspect – a 21-year-old white man – killed his victims because they were black.

I cannot fathom the hatred behind this act. He walked into a church, joined the people as they discussed Scripture, and then he shot dead the Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, the Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr. and Myra Thompson.

Their names deserve to be printed, but unfortunately the attention in the months ahead will be focused on the killer. Soon, though, even his name too will fade from the public memory. These events  in which the perpetrator enters a public place with a gun and opens fire, killing numerous people  happen with such appalling frequency in the United States that we remember them only by place name: the Colorado movie theater, the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, Sandy Hook Elementary School, Trolley Square. “Mother Jones” magazine reports 80 such incidents in the last three decades.

I will leave the commentary on racism, gun control and mental illness to others, but I will say I have little hope that, after the pundits and politicians and special interest groups all have had their say, anything will change.

I also question why, after all this time and all these deaths, we Americans just shrug as though nothing can be done to stop the violence. The hatred lives right here among us, in our states and our cities and our neighborhoods and our homes. Those who die are our family members, our friends and our neighbors. Why do we accept that we can do nothing to prevent their deaths?

These questions were on my mind as I started to read “Laudato Si’,” which was released the day after the deaths at Emanuel A.M.E. Church. In his encyclical, Pope Frances urges us not to resign ourselves, to not go into denial or give in to indifference. He suggests having forthright and honest debates. He advises us to cultivate real relationships with others, to slow down, recover values and the meaning of life. He recommends that we create welcoming spaces that help people connect and trust each other. He proposes that we to do something nice for our community.

The Holy Father also acknowledges that the intimate relationship between the health of our environment and our society’s wellbeing. 

So, what would happen if we – all of us – take his suggestions and refuse to remain passive amid this plague of violence? What if we insist our politicians and policy makers set aside the speechifying and special interests, and instead have honest discussions about the hatred that festers in America, and why guns aren’t regulated in the same way as automobiles, and how people with mental health issues can be helped? What would happen if each of us took positive steps, whether it be reaching out to those whom we ourselves fear because they are “different,” or sending an email to a legislator to urge action, or even just saying a prayer to end the hatred? 

One step I will take will be attending the “Claiming Common Ground Against Gun Violence” prayer service at 7:15 a.m. June 28 at the Salt Palace Convention Center. 

I hope you will come, too. Prayer might not be the final solution, but I think it is the beginning of one. This violence will not end until we all insist that it does.