Certainly the “only” thing was the schools. Probably not correct with the absolute letter, but generally speaking ….
Home of the brave? May 27, 2022. From Gabe Kapler 822 comments
On the day 19 children and 2 teachers were killed, we observed a minute of silence at sporting events across the country, then played the national anthem and continued to live.
Players, staff and fans stood in silence for a moment, mourning the lives lost, and then we (myself included) continued to stand, proudly proclaiming ourselves the land of the free and the home of the brave. We didn’t stop to think about whether we were really free and brave after this horrible event, we just kept our attention.
When I was the same age as the children in Uwalde, my father taught me to take the oath of allegiance when I believed my country represented its people well, or to protest and sit back when it didn’t. I do not believe that he is presenting us well at the moment.
This particular time, the 18-year-old entered a store, bought a number of submachine guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, entered a school with an armed resource officer and his own police district, and managed to kill children in nearly an hour. Parents begged and begged police officers to do something, police officers who had guns and who received nearly 40% of the city’s funding because their children were killed.
We choose our politicians to represent our interests. Immediately after this shooting, we were told that we needed locked doors and armed teachers. They gave us thoughts and prayers. We were told it could be worse and we just need love.
But we are not given courage and we are not free. Police handcuffed a mother who begged them to come in and rescue her children. They blocked parents who were trying to organize to break in to stop the shooter, including a father who learned his daughter had been killed. while arguing with the cops. We are not free when politicians decide that the lobbying and arms industries are more important than the freedom of our children to go to school without the need for armored backpacks and active shooting practice.
I am often struck before our matches by the lack of fulfillment of the promise of what our national anthem is. We stand in honor of a country where we elect representatives to serve us, to think carefully and to pass legislation that protects the interests of all people in that country, and to move the country forward towards a vision of a “shining city on a hill.” But instead, we pointlessly associate a moment of silence and grief with an equally ill-considered demonstration of celebration for a country that refuses to accept the concept of controlling the sale of weapons used almost exclusively for the massacre of human beings. We have our moment (again and again) and then we move forward without demanding real change from the people we authorize to make those changes. We stand, bow our heads, and the people in power go on vacation, celebrating their own patriotism at every turn.
Every time I put my hand on my heart and take off my hat, I participate in a self-congratulating glorification of the ONLY country where these mass shootings take place. On Wednesday I went out on the field, listened to the message while we were honoring the victims in Uwalde. I bowed my head. I defended the national anthem. Metallica riffs on City Connect guitars.
My brain told me to fall to my knees; my body did not listen. I wanted to go back inside; instead I froze. I felt cowardly. I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. I did not want to take away from the victims or their families. There was a baseball game, a rock band, the lights, the procession. I knew that thousands of people used this game to escape the horrors of the world for just a while. I knew that thousands of others would not understand this gesture and would accept it as an insult to the military, to the veterans, to themselves.
But I’m not okay with the state of this country. I wish I hadn’t allowed my discomfort to compromise my integrity. I wish I could demonstrate what I learned from my father that when you are dissatisfied with your country, say it through protest. The House of the Brave should encourage this.
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