iReport: Black and Brown Gun Violence In America with Special Investigative Reporter, Jim Crowe

Unequivocally tragic is an understatement of the catastrophe at Sandy Hook. As a parent, I did as a majority of us did Friday; prayed, and hugged my son. Now that the shock has left my system, and I've had time to examine some of the factors in this case, I'm left with some critical questions aside from the obvious. In my professional life, I explore issues of race and media all the time. The politics of race and representation pertaining to the Newtown incident must be addressed.
We have yet another White male assailant who's gone on a murderous rampage; this time with babies. Observing that the attack took place at a school that looks racially homogenous, and a majority of the victims were White, I fear that had the racial variables had been different, there would not be a national charge to address the growing epidemic of gun violence in this country.
According to Guncrisis.org 55 people were killed in Philadelphia over a two week span, post the Aurora, Colorado shooting. In Chicago, there were 48 homicides in July. Where was the national media challenging this culture of violence when it was hemorrhaging in the urban metropolitan communities? When Black and Brown babies are violently killed, the quick media frame is one that problematizes the victim while at the same time castigating the assailant. There are no arm chair psychologists, medicalizing the deviant behavior. Instead there is the familiar verbiage, "gang banger, drive-by shooting, suspect-a Black male." In my media and diversity class, students where stunned by their observations when asked to compare and contrast the news coverage of two local homicides; Eve Carson and Denita Smith. Both victims were college students and both victims were dispatched by gun violence. However, when they probed the cases critically, Smith, who was Black, did not make national news, nor did the four local affiliates block programing to cover her funeral. Are we experiencing Jim Crow news coverage at our local and national levels when Black and Brown people are the victims of crime? No parent should ever have to endure what happened at Sandy Hook, but equally important, no parent should ever have to suffer the indignities of justifying the victim status of their dead child as do the parents of Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin.

W. Russell Robinson

We Live By The Gun, We'll Die By The Gun

How many more people have to die in the US before we declare a stand against gun violence? It's scary because regrettably the gun nor the bullets do not know the difference between race, class, nor gender. Yesterday as I was living my aloof life, gun violence struck again, this time, at an elementary school. For me, this is now where the issue becomes personnel. As a father of a 6 year old boy in kindergarten, I blindly assume that when I take him to school, that's a safe haven. He shouldn't have to go to school with it looking like a military camp. As this news story unfolded, a school called Sandy Creek Elemantary in Newtown, CT went from innocence to carriage where 20 kids and six adults were brutally murdered, dispatched by the all too familiar narrative of "The Lone Gunman." Picking my son up from school yesterday was an experience because I realized that though my life isn't perfect, in light the yesterday's catastrophe, I was blessed. Where I get to buy Christmas presents for him, there are 20 families who have to buy coffins for their children and six others who have to do the same. Last night, I was drunk with anger and took to twitter. I was seething mad because this could have been my child. One of the things I did, which I still find myself shocked about, is that for a while, I took race off the table. Race for a few moments in my life became a side note and I even counseled a follower, respectfully mind you, that race at this moment was discretionary. As I sobered up emotionally, I am still bitterly angry yet the anger for me at least is becoming more focused and I'm starting to ask some pretty damn grown up questions.
1) What is the emergency safety protocol at my child's school.
When Red and I talked about this last night, I was happy to know he knew the basic package. He listens to the teacher, he go where she says go and does not leave until I or someone on our family tree list picks him up. In fact, I know at his school they have campus resource officers (city police).
2) Do I need to get a gun?
For me, the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. I have a child in my home who has prying eyes and fingers. If he will look for my iPad, he will look for my gun. The best way to keep him and me physically and morally safe is not to even bring a gun in the home. The thing I have to consider as a parent is do I ask the parents of his friends, do they have a gun? Personally, I don't think I want my son to have sleepovers when a gun is in the house. I'm a realist and I know that I'm not bullet proof; that said my contribution to gun control is to stay the hell away from them, and live a peaceable life where I don't have to entertain the thought. I'll own it, I'm non-confrontational, and to the untrained observer, one could call me a coward. I simply will not catch a bullet for anyone, with the exception of my immediate family. If I have to face that scenario, chances are either I or they have done something incredibly wrong or we are in worst case scenario and its just our time. But the best defense against gun violence is a good offense and for me, that's being a person of piece.
3) What is my role in the solution of the epidemic of gun violence?
Know your role and shut your mouth. Though I don't like the WWE, I think those words adequately express my position here. I'm a mass comm professor who loves cultural studies. What an opportunity to put that to the test. Unequivocally, America is a country and culture of violence. Malcolm X put it bluntly, America was founded on violence. The cultural discourse of violence must stop. We speak a language of violence with an ideology of machismo. Our blood is infected with violence and we are in need of a transfusion. How and where do we begin to teach a political and cultural ideology of peaceable transgression?
Part of the solution is to disarm our language. Not everything is about confrontation and defense. Another part is to emasculate violence. In America, our cultural icons were violent people. We have to bury the images and call them what they are, anachronisms. Last, we must de-incentivize irresponsible gun ownership. To me this means if you own a gun, you must be required to carry multimillion dollar liability insurance. Ammunition should be expensive, $1000.00 per bullet (I stole that from Chris Rock). I think if you own a gun, you should pay federal tax per weapon every year. If you illegally have a gun, there should be automatic state and federal time. If you commit a crime with a gun it too should be automatic state and federal time with maximum sentences. If you kill a child in this country with a gun, and it is deemed unlawful it should be an automatic capital crime where the death penalty is on the table. I would add that we should take guns off the street, even in the hands of our police. The only folks who should carry guns are the military and those in clandestine service for the government. State police and local police shouldn't carry guns. It's weird but in China, there was an attack where I think 22 people were slashed, but NOBODY died. At the risk of editorializing, it's ironic that in our country it takes 12 years to get a high school diploma, yet you can get a gun in 12 minutes.
These are only MY thoughts. I do hope that you are equally considering this and solutions...

When Natural Born Twitters meet Dog Day Afternoon

When Natural Born Twitters meet Dog Day Afternoon:
I'm deeply concerned here.  The individual here was clearly disturbed but also tech and media savvy enough to garner twitter-wide sympathy.  As a self appointed "media examiner" it looks as though this person may have been attempting one of two things; suicide by police or trying his case in the media.  At the end of the day, he got what he wanted, which was an audience.  What disturbs me as how in his state of decomposition, he's become a sensational news story (part by his own doing) as opposed to a person in need of real psychological interventions.  The question I have though is how and why were his social media feeds allowed to continue?  

Man tweets, broadcasts police standoff from basement in Baltimore