“We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness” is the title of a best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize author Alice Walker. I believe it may be the appropriate mantra for successfully addressing our “No. 1” current domestic problem: The 24/7 deaths and violence from guns. The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization already consider violence a public health threat, whether a firearm is involved or not. The American College of Physicians has been calling gun violence an epidemic since 1995. The Obama Presidential election and re-election campaigns, successes of the movement for gay rights and Black Lives Matters suggest that the proactive actions of concerned individuals could be the most appropriate form of actions…
“We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting for: Inner Light in a Time of Darkness” is the title of a best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize author Alice Walker. I believe it may be the appropriate mantra for successfully addressing our “No. 1” current domestic problem: The 24/7 deaths and violence from guns.
The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization already consider violence a public health threat, whether a firearm is involved or not. The American College of Physicians has been calling gun violence an epidemic since 1995.
The Obama Presidential election and re-election campaigns, successes of the movement for gay rights and Black Lives Matters suggest that the proactive actions of concerned individuals could be the most appropriate form of actions to affect any significant reduction in domestic gun violence.
Repeated efforts directed at Congress to legislate indirect control of the distribution of guns by background check legislation will not provide a timely antidote to domestic deaths by guns. Significant change will only occur when millions of people, locally in their respective communities, block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county and state by state, organize and collectively say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH — end gun violence!
If neighborhood civilian watch patrols with Police backup between midnight and 6:00am is needed in New York, LA, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore and other major urban areas, then this should be tried.
Energy and money directed against the National Rifle Association would be better spent in creating and operating such civilian watch patrols and talking to and monitoring young African-American men, for example about their day and night activities.
Like Alice Walker said: WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.
If not now, when
If not us, who?
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
See the original article here:
