Races part in gun control

We are three months into the new year and there have been eight mass shootings, the most recent one being Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.  While many are left wondering why there has been absolutely no change, the answer is clear: the killers are white. When crimes are perpetrated by a Latino or a Black person, people are so quick to label that entire race as thugs, gang members, and criminals.

The reality of the situation is that change is made when the problem or tragedy is at the hands of a person of color but we are so completely used to a white man’s rage that this issue is ignored.

Adam Lanza, Eric Harris and David Klebold; all white males who have commited the most horrendous school massacres in the history of the U.S, these names are just 3 out of a long list. According to Mother JonesMagazine, “ 64 perecent  of mass shootings are commited by white people. 16 percent are committed by Black people, Asians were responsible for 9 percent and Latinos, Natives and people of unknown races have rounded out the rest (8 percent)”

While it may make people uncomfortable, it is the truth that the only reason that tragedies such as these are taken so lightly is a result of the killers being white and native born americans. We profile people everywhere we go and we grow up having perceived views of people who are of different races, people who we are taught are not like us. We automatically assume that someone is a ‘thug’ if they grew up on the ‘bad’ side of town and that they are the people that we need to watch out for.  When we see a colored man walking down the street, our instinct is to cross onto the other side and our alert is automatically put on high. If we were to profile white males like we do colored people these tragedies wouldn’t occur as often as they do. There have been 15 school shootings since 1990, and eight of them have been committed by white males, that is 53%. This should’ve never become an issue in the first place and it is an absolute shame that people would much rather brush the issue off than admit to themselves why there has not been a change.

When we consider who could be a threat and what could be done to make them no longer a threat, it comes down to what their race is. When a Black man is a “ threat”, there is no sympathy because he grew up surrounded by “bad” people and it is instinct to succumb to the level of committing crimes. When a white man is a “ threat”, we need to help them and befriend them so they won’t feel they way they do. They are victims and it is not instinct that drove them to these crimes but rather a mental health issue.

The matter of the fact is that, our inbreed racism is killing people. Although it is not blatant racism, it is just as harmful. If we are not putting in the effort to recognize it, we are the problem.