Home Grown Hate On Aisle Three
Two mass shootings in one week, and how America is crumbling under the weight of its original sin — unchecked & systemic racism.
Summer in America. This season conjures up many things to many people. Ice cream. Fireworks. The cascading perfume of hot dogs and hamburgers on a barbecue grill. Summer in America is also now becoming synonymous with something sinister — mass shootings. This week in particular has provided two potent examples in the western part of the country. And both of these mass shootings have commonalities that go back to something else that has been uniquely tied to summer in this country which is racially-motivated violence.
The week began with a shooting at the annual Garlic Festival in Gilroy, a town in the Santa Clara county of Northern California. The peaceful festival atmosphere was shattered by Santino William Legan, a 19-year old who arrived at the festival, snuck in and opened fire on the crowd with an
AK-47. Three people were killed, including a six year old and thirteen others
were injured. Legan then killed himself, which was confirmed by the local
coroner’s office on Friday. Then this morning, at the Wal-Mart adjacent to the Cielo Vista shopping mall in El Paso, Texas, a shooter walked in wielding an AK-47 and opened fire. 20 people were killed with 40 reportedly injured. The dead included three Mexican citizens at the last report…
