PAIN, SUFFERING, GRIEF AND QUESTIONING THE ACTS OF VIOLENCE

PAIN, SUFFERING, GRIEF AND QUESTIONING THE ACTS OF VIOLENCE

107th in a Series

By Jackalyn Rainosek, PHD

Violence in Atlanta, Georgia, and Boulder, Colorado a Week Apart

We have had two terribly violent group killings in a span of one week. The first was in Atlanta, Georgia on March 16th where eight people were murdered, including six Asian American women. The Conversations have an excellent group of writers that produced the article, “Racism is behind anti-Asian American Violence, even when it’s not a hate crime. Pawan Dhingra, who is The Conversations, writer states that “over the past year, attacks on Asian Americans have increased more than 150% over the previous year.” He further indicates that “race can play a role in violence and prejudice, even if the offender does not clearly express a racist intent.” It is disturbing to learn that sometimes the attacks are classified as hate crimes; however, “whether they meet the legal definition or not, they all fit a long history of viewing Asian Americans in particular ways that make discrimination and violence against them more likely.” Another fact that Dhingra reveals is that the man who is charged with the murders has said that “it was not racial prejudice against people of Asian descent. Rather, he has claimed he has a sexual addiction...he assumed these women were prostitutes.” His connection with the more conservative conference of the Baptist Church, the Southern Baptist, has led to significant writings about their teachings, which could easily be viewed as a contribution to this man’s killing of eight people six of who were Asian American women. If you read The Conversations by Susan M. Shaw entitled, “Purity culture and the subjugation of women,” “Southern Baptist beliefs on sex and gender provide context to spa suspect’s motives.” They hold women responsible for men’s sex drives, and that “they may cause boys and men to sin through expressions of their own sexuality.” A prominent evangelical Bible teacher Beth Moore announced she had led the Southern Baptists, primarily over what she described as denominational leaders’ misogyny as reflected in their support for Donald Trump.

In Time Brief on February 18, 2021, 7:00 AM EST, in the article, “Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans Are on the Rise, Many Say More Policing Isn’t the Answer.” The author, Cady Lang, comments that “many attribute the 2020 uptick to the xenophobic rhetoric of former President Trump repeatedly referring to COVID19 as ‘the China virus’” led to the violent attacks again Asian Americans. His continued hate speeches on social media, and his public comments that reinforced his hateful and violent speeches gave “people license to attack” Asian Americans. When the President of the United States legitimizes militia groups that are focused on violence and he has no regard for anyone that is not white and believes in the inferiority of all other races accept whites he has created a history of Racism that will haunt us for many years to come.

Next, we have the Boulder, Colorado shooting. The Boulder Police Department has now divulged the name of the officer killed during the shooting at the King Soopers in the southern part of the city: Eric Talley. In addition, the officers have stated “that ten people were killed in the attack, in which the suspect fired what Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold referred to as a ‘patrol rifle.’” A source cited by CNN said the “shooter used an AR-15-style rifle—the sort would have been prohibited by the city’s assault weapons ban; had it not recently been deemed unconstitutional. Those who lost their lives at the King Soopers store “ranged from 20 years old to 65. They included a magazine photographer, a Medicare agent with a passion for theater and others going about their days at a busy shopping plaza. It is unclear what drove the 21-year-old man to fatally shoot 10 people.”

We can even go back to May 20, 2020, a 20-year-old gunman in Glendale, Arizona, wounded three people near a popular shopping complex, days after the state’s stay-at-home orders expired. Melissa Chan’s Time Magazine article referenced in the next paragraph conveyed the following: “Prosecutors said the suspected shooter felt bullied and ignored by women, according to local news reports. The misogyny in that case and in Atlanta is not a coincidence in the U.S., where women are 21 times more likely to be killed with a gun than women in other developed nations."

Time Magazine writer, Melissa Chan, provides significant facts about mass shooting in America and it is frightening to realize how much of this relates to the years of the buildup of violence from 2016 to 2020. In her article, “Mass Shootings: ‘This Is what Normal Has come to be Like in America,’” she provides the following facts: “Despite a pandemic that kept much of the U.S. at home, 2020 was one of the nation’s most violent years in decades, experts say. Homicides soared in many major cities. And more than 19.000 people were fatally shot in 2020—the highest death toll in more than 20 years, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence incidents. The nonprofit says there were more than 600 incidents in which four or more people were shot in 2020, which is nearly 50% more than the year before…About 22.8 million firearms were sold in 2020, compared with 13.9 million the previous year, according to estimates by the Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, an independent research firm. In 2020, the FBI conducted more firearm background checks than any year on record—more than 39.6 million, data from the agency shows. More than 8.4 million people in the U.S. became first-time gun owners last year.”

What do we Need to Realize and Face?

The more I read about the Christian Churches that supported Trump the more I realize the lack of knowledge, education and experience of science, trends arising out of identification of error in interpretation of the Bibles in America, and the unwillingness to let go of archaic belief structures that have been adopted to control and create power over church members for the benefit of the church not the members. In my last article, I talked about the new movie coming out called 1946, which describes the use of a Greek word to mean homosexual, which it does not. All our bibles after 1946 in the U.S. currently, have this major error that has oppressed and persecuted homosexuals since 1946. I have another article from the United Methodist Insight entitled, “Has ‘Homosexual’ Always Been in the Bible?” Ed Oxford is interviewed about 1946 and his research. He is writing a book with Kathy Baldock, “Forging a Sacred Weapon: How the bible Became Anti-Gay.” He started “collecting old bibles in French, German Irish, Gaelic, Czechoslovakian, Polish, and had a friend translate the German bibles and another who could translate a Norwegian Bible, and another Greek found that instead of homosexual these bibles were addressing the practice of older men abusing young boys. In all three Bibles, they were referring to pederasty, not homosexuality. All of us are responsible for educating ourselves about destructive patterns of churches that feed racism, sexism, heterosexism, and homophobia."

Second, we are in a new day. Thank goodness we have a President that Time identifies as “Joe Biden is Unmatched as America’s Grief Counselor.” The article is written by Philip Elliott. He gives personal examples in the early stages of Biden’s campaign, who had to deal with the death of her child, and Biden’s private conversations with her about the death of his son, Beau. Look at the significant difference of Biden’s ability to express compassion and stand with the American People in their time of grief whether it is about the deaths from the coronavirus or the horrific killings in Atlanta and Boulder. It is time we prepare to support Biden, Harris, and the Democratic members of our Congress to move America to a place that is recognized for its appreciation of all people. We need to create an even stronger presence of candidates that know what it means to be ethical, supportive of our democracy and care about the American people, not to attempt to oppress or suppress the right for people to have the right to vote.  If you want to know what is happening, have knowledge and an emotional connection to the issues that occur in our country, sign up for our Social Justice program at our website at www.dtp-leadership.com.

#atlantageorgiashooting

#bouldercoloradoshooting

#pain

#suffering

#grief

#violence

#asianamericanwomen

#theconversations

#pawandhingra

#hatecrimesdefined

#southernbaptistconference

#susanmshaw

#sex

#gender

#misogyny

#trump

#timebrief

#february182021

#cacylang

#policechiefmarisherold

#patrolrifle

#Kingsoopers

#glendalearizona

#melissachan

#violenceagainstwomen

#massshooting

#2016-2020

#19000shot

#lackofknowledge

#education

#experiencewithscience

#misinterpretation

#bible

#unitedmethodistinsight

#edoxford

#kathybaldock

#forgingasacredweapon

#priorto1946bibles

#after1946bibles

#pederasty

#homosexuality

#americagriefcounselor

#joebiden

#timemagazine

#philipelliott

#democrats

#ethical

#supportdemocracy

#notsuppressvote

#dtp-leadership

#jackalynrainosekphd