On Saturday, in New York, a group of friends pulled into a strangers driveway to turn their car around. The homeowner came outside, shot at them, and killed one of the 20 year old women in the car.
Last Thursday, in Kansas City, a 16 year old boy ended up at the wrong address by mistake trying to pick up his younger siblings. He rang the doorbell. The homeowner shot him in the head. He is, miraculously, alive and recovering.
Yesterday, in Texas, a group of high school cheerleaders stopped at a grocery store on their way home. One of them opened the door to the wrong car by mistake, realized her mistake, and quickly retreated and found her friends car nearby. The man in the car followed her and shot at the group. 2 were shot. One remains hospitalized.
In less than a week- 3 people, doing normal, nonmalicious, nonthreatening, everyday things. Turning around in a driveway, ringing the wrong doorbell, going up to the wrong car by mistake. And with no escalation, no warning, it turns to gun fire.
It's a terrible intersection of easy access to firearms and an entitlement to use violence against others. All 3 of these recent incidents were so unprovoked and unjustifiable, and the core thread remains the same.
A man who felt entitled to use violence and had the means to do so with a firearm.
I don't even know what to say.
Literally what in the *fuck* is happening.
Hey, so, as I clarified on other reblogs- it....actually isn't. I understand why you would assume that. And since people of color are so often seen as inherently more threatening in our white supremacist culture, they are far more likely to be the victims of these kinds of incidents.
But. The basketball incident was a black shooter and a white victim. The New York incident was a white shooter and a white victim. The Texas incident was a Hispanic shooter and a black victim. The Kansas city incident was a white shooter and a black victim. The ages vary too- the victims are as young as 6. The shooters range from 24 to 84. It's happened all over the country- Upstate New York to central Texas.
So, to me, this recent uptick of "wrong place" shootings is more than just race (though race is absolutely a factor in some of these situations). But rather shows that these systems of inequality and power and paranoia, gun culture and ease with violence, can and do affect a wide range of our society. Too many Americans are too quick to assume malice from strangers, are too quick to turn their fear into violence, and have far too much access to make that violence incredibly deadly.
I keep thinking about how maybe a society that was built on genocide and slavery, and that has been violently opposed to actually reckoning with that history, in uniquely positioned to have the disastrously toxic relationship with guns and intra-community violence.
