Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Culture of Violence: Newtown requires new thinking about our violent society By Delphine Blachowicz Herbert Special to the Star-Banner Published: Sunday, January 27, 2013 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, January 25, 2013 at 7:32 p.m. As a longtime advocate for peace and justice, I ask our elected officials to join with other civic and faith leaders, both in our local community and in Tallahassee, to begin to turn the tide against the culture of violence, which was the occasion for Florida leading the nation in calling for and implementing “stand your ground” legislation. But “stand your ground” is not merely a legal term. It is a moral imperative, which compels individuals of conscience to stand up for what they believe. I, thus, ask our lawmakers in Tallahassee to stand your ground, not by turning us all into sharpshooters but by committing themselves to work toward nonviolence as the ultimate measure of a civilized people and as an expression of the love toward one another, which all religions and moral philosophies espouse. Jesus, after all, said that those who live by the sword are condemned to die by it. Yet, it is human nature to want to protect ourselves. We must be realists and begin with legislative action both in Washington and in Tallahassee to contain the manufacture and accessibility of assault weapons. But a greater reality demands that we address the reasons we have become among the most violent societies on Earth with 2 million of us in prison, a number larger than that of China with four times our population. We cannot remain an open society by fostering a bunker mentality in which we seek to shut out the outside world, sheltering ourselves in gated communities, pistol in hand behind locked doors in subdivisions where we scarcely know our neighbors. Fear is the mind-killer which cripples us into cowardice and rejection of the unknown. We can begin by reaching out to those who seem most unlike ourselves — the “others” living in neighborhoods into which we do not customarily go and by confronting situations which we usually avoid. We can't remain sequestered in the narrow comfort of the like-minded, be they in our churches or other interest groups. Yes, there are myriad proposals for the containment of sales of assault weapons and ammunition. In Florida, we have at least five companies that manufacture the AR-15s and at least 50 that produce the bullets for them. Earlier this month, 8,000 people stood in line at a gun show in Orlando, and last month, concealed-weapon permits in Florida surpassed the 1 million mark. So who uses them? Yes, hunters, street criminals, often disposable young people unable to get jobs, who are condemned to become fodder for our “justice” system. Sometimes distraught individuals such as the young mother who saw no way out of her difficulties except to leave this vale of tears with a beautiful 6-month-old child. My heart breaks for the children in Newtown and for the idle young people who succumbed to group pressure and amused themselves by torturing to death a 15-year-old in Summerfield. I grieve for the young soldier who was laid to rest in Reddick a couple Saturdays ago upon his body's return from Afghanistan. And I grieve for veterans — often wounded in mind if not in body — who return to civilian life unable to find a place for themselves Yes, I want our children protected. I want all of us protected. I understand the wish to station police in every school, but what kind of people will we become? There is no way in a free society we can protect ourselves against every possible security risk. Pessimists say it is too late to do anything because 300 million guns already exist in this country. But as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his last book, “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”: “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” Delphine Blachowicz Herbert is president of the local chapter of The Interfaith Alliance, a national group of 185,000 members devoted to separation of church and state and fighting discrimination in any form. Error on line 28 position 9: 'split(...).1' is null or not an object All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.