February 28, 2018
Page 13
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O PINION
The Second Amendment and White Anxiety
America clearly
has a gun problem
o sCar h. b layton
There has been yet
another school shoot-
ing in America. The
multiple murders at
the Stoneman Douglas
High School in Park-
land, Fla. mark the 18th
school shooting in this nation
since the beginning of the year.
And once again the only response
by elected officials has been to of-
fer “thoughts and prayers” for the
victims and their families.
News anchors and pundits
scratch their heads and ask, “What
can be done to fix this?” while ig-
noring the obvious answer - limit
access to guns.
If this seems like madness, it’s
because it is. This country clear-
ly has a gun problem, a problem
that can be solved if we act, as so
many countries around the world
have done. But we choose not to.
Much of the blame for these
killings is placed at the feet of
the National Rifle Association,
the political behemoth that slides
dollars into the pockets of every
conservative federal elected offi-
cial and to many state politicians
as well. These “bribes” ensure that
conservative politicians will not
enact any meaningful legislation
that will stop or slow the flow of
guns, even into the hands of the
criminally insane. But the NRA
could not exist without a culture
in this country that places a higher
by
priority on the right to gun own-
ership than on the lives of school
children.
The main question then be-
comes, “How did this
madness come to dic-
tate America’s priori-
ties?”
In attempting to an-
swer this question, we
cannot ignore the racial
dynamic of America’s
obsession with guns. White men
can walk the streets with fully
loaded automatic rifles and suffer
no negative consequences, while
people of color are shot dead for
having a toy gun.
This is because the freedom of
Americans to bears arms that is not
the real issue here; it is the freedom
of white Americans to arm them-
selves against people of color (who
are perceived as a threat).
Even though the great majori-
ty of mass shooters are white, the
perceived threat is the armed per-
son of color. The psyches of many
white Americans are tainted by a
fear of retribution for past wrongs
and injustices committed against
people of color. This fear will not
go away anytime soon because for
as long as the injustices persist,
the fear will persist and the gun
culture will persist.
So, the mass killings will per-
sist.
Typically, and ironically, the
victims of American injustice are
not doing the killing. A segment of
the white populace that is armed to
the teeth unleashes its murderous
anxiety by firing assault weapons,
killing the innocent. It may seem
farfetched to quote a character
from a “Star Wars” episode, but in
this case, the warning by Master
Jedi Yoda’s makes sense: “Fear
is the path to the dark side. Fear
leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.”
To those whites prone to such
behavior, Donald Trump has giv-
en license to openly fear and hate
people of color. The resulting suf-
fering has followed, as night fol-
lows the day.
The problem of mass shootings
is most definitely a gun problem.
It is also undeniably a mental
health problem. And at the base
of it all, the root of the gun cul-
ture that allows the mentally ill to
run around with the capability to
commit multiple murders is white
America’s fear of people of color.
But the fear that many white
people have of people of color
pales in comparison to their fear
of a black man with a gun. The
high-water mark for American gun
control legislation during the last
80 years was in the late 1960s, due
in large part to the Black Panther
Party showing up heavily armed at
the California State House in May
1967. The sight of armed black
men with large afros and berets
sent a chill down America’s spine
and sparked political activity that
eventually led to new gun control
laws being passed in federal and
state legislatures.
In the years since, law enforce-
ment across the country struck
heavy blows against black orga-
nizations perceived to be radical,
armed and dangerous. These or-
ganizations began to fade and the
perceived threat level lessened.
Once this happened, gun control
began to be relaxed.
A working paper released by
the Harvard Business School in
2016 explored the impact of mass
shootings on gun policy from
1989 to 2014. It showed that gun
laws have been loosened over the
years by legislators courted by the
gun lobby. The paper even states,
“When there is a Republican-con-
trolled legislature, mass shootings
lead to more firearm laws that
loosen gun control. A mass shoot-
ing in the previous year increas-
es the number of enacted laws
that loosen gun restrictions by 75
percent in states with Republi-
can-controlled legislatures.”
In other words, when there is a
mass shooting, Republicans make
it easier for someone to commit
another mass shooting by loosen-
ing gun control laws. This can best
be explained by the existence of a
great fear of, and a need to arm
against, the perceived threat posed
by people of color.
The gun lobby’s 2nd Amend-
ment argument to keep and bear
arms is predicated upon self-de-
fense. But the language of that
amendment begins,” A well reg-
ulated Militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State…” Gun
rights advocates never talk about
this first clause of the one sentence
that is the 2nd Amendment. The
necessary “well regulated Militia”
underpinning the right to keep and
bear arms has been swept aside, as
it is now alleged that the amend-
ment addresses the security of
individuals rather than that of the
“free state.”
Today, it is white privilege, not
America, that some white people
are seeking to protected by the
2nd Amendment.
We must now ask ourselves,
“How do we, as citizens, take on
the gun lobby and the culture that
supports it?” Clearly, our current,
collective elected officials will do
nothing.
We, as citizens, need to begin
on the local, state and federal lev-
els to replace politicians who are
lackeys of the NRA and the gun
lobby so that we can pass laws
restricting access to automatic
weapons. The right to bear arms
does not mean the right to bear
all weapons. Ordinary people
cannot possess mortars, rocket
launchers or grenades, so, why
can’t we extend these prohibitions
to include automatic assault ri-
fles? Why can’t we mandate strict
background checks and limit the
number of guns an individual can
purchase?
We must put people in office
who have principles and who val-
ue human life over profit and priv-
ilege and find ways to pass laws
that create more effective gun
controls.
It is time for us to use gun laws
to protect citizens rather than to
secure white privilege.
Oscar H. Blayton is a former
Marine Corps combat pilot and
human rights activist who practic-
es law in Virginia.
Been Waiting My Entire Life for a Black Superhero
The power
of being
represented
l akayana D rury
I remember sit-
ting on the floor of
Lakeview Library, six
years old, pulling out
the bins of superhe-
ro comics and staring
at the covers of Hulk
and Wolverine. I re-
member stuffing my backpack full
of action figures as a kid on my
way to school. Taking my Batman
figure on adventures around my
house.
I remember playing Power
Rangers at recess at Lapham El-
ementary and wanting to the Red
Ranger because he was the lead-
by
er, he was cool and also white,
and wanting to change my name
to Tommy. I remember creat-
ing my own superhero comic in
sixth grade, Morpho Man, who I
drew as a white guy and it never
occurred to me that he
could be black.
I had no understand-
ing of race at the time. It
never crossed my mind
that all of my action
figures in my backpack
were white. I was and
still am a dreamer. I act-
ed out countless battles and adven-
tures as a crime-fighting superhe-
ro as a kid on playgrounds across
my city. Punching and kicking at
villains that were so real to me as
my imagination ran wild. And as
big as my imagination was, never
once in those childhood fantasies
did I envision my alter ego was
black. And while I didn’t grow up
to wear a cape or mask, I did be-
come a real life superhero of sorts;
a teacher.
All of those memories of com-
ics and heroes played in my mind
as I sat in the theater with all of my
students for the new movie Black
Panther. I organized a trip for my
whole school because I wanted
them to see a black superhero on
the big screen.
Especially for my students of
color, I wanted them to be part
of their moment. White boys had
their moment when Star Wars
came out in 1977. White children
had their moment when Harry
Potter came out in 1999. For little
black boys and girls, and adults
who had once been little black
boys and girls, finally this is our
moment.
I wanted them to see powerful
black men and women fighting
villains. Whose names were not
Bruce or Peter or Jane. I wanted
the idea of black superheroes to
seep into their conscious so that
the next time they drew a super-
hero it would occur to them that
he or she could be black. Or may-
be Asian or Muslim or transgen-
der.
I wanted them to see black men
that were scientists, women who
were warriors and young people
who were inventors. I wanted
them to see an Africa that stood in
its power. But I also wanted them
to understand it was bigger than a
film.
Before the movie, we dis-
cussed the context leading up to
the production of Black Panther
-- that there wouldn’t be a Lupita
Nyong’o without Hattie McDan-
iel; that 100 years ago “Birth of a
Nation” was playing in the White
House; that Denzel Washing-
ton won an Academy Award for
“Training Day” and not Malcolm
X; and how we went from Blax-
ploitation films in the 1970’s to
Afrofuturism in 2018.
I was little me again in the the-
ater as I watched T’Challa leap,
run and fight across the screen. I
was the little boy on the court in
Oakland, star-struck as his ship
flew overhead.
I have been waiting my entire
life for a black superhero on the
big screen and I didn’t even know
it. I want my students to know it. I
want them to feel it. To understand
it. And then, like T’challa, I want
them all to go out into the world
claim their throne and be great.
Wakanda Forever!
Lakayana Drury is a teacher at
Rosemary Anderson High School.