Editorial:
Like the rest of America, we were shocked and saddened by the senseless shooting spree aimed at Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords. The tragedy ended with six individuals killed and 14 people wounded. Many of us lay the blame at the feet of hateful right-wing rhetoric which has been spewing out of Arizona.
Arizona is a state where Governor Jan Brewer has lied about the deaths and beheadings she said were happening in the desert, where Sheriff Arpaio has made it his career to chase and humiliate immigrants. Arizona is a state that welcomes and supports the Minute Men as they patrol the border with weapons at the ready. Tea Party activists and Sarah Palin made Giffords’ congressional district in Arizona their target to take out in the last election.
All of the polarizing, hate-filled talk in Arizona has set the atmosphere for someone with an unstable mental capacity to take the next step and kill those who he saw as the problem.
As Hispanics, we have often been the object of individuals taking matters into their own hands. We feel violated when racist individuals raze the makeshift homes of migrant workers. We are saddened when migrant workers are shot at with air guns by joy riding teens in the backcountry. We know that migrant workers are harrassed and yelled at for doing nothing more than looking/waiting for a day job.
So, no it wasn’t a big leap to assume that hate-filled politics was the cause of this shooting.
However, sometimes in life there is just no explanation as to why someone would do something as horrible as to shoot into a crowd of politicians and their supporters.
At Wednesday’s memorial service for the victims of the Arizona shooting, President Obama’s soothing words also served to challenge us all to be better people:
“And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.
“The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.”
We should all take heed of President Obama’s words and step back from the politics of hate and polarization. We can disagree, we can debate issues, but we should always listen and grow together as a nation.
Polarizing and hateful politics only serves to tear at the fabric of our nation and can only destroy us in the end.