Fox News host Tucker Carlson ignited widespread condemnation on Wednesday after he attempted to justify the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two protesters during demonstrations in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night. “So are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” he asked on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Rittenhouse was reportedly arrested in his hometown of Antioch, Illinois, and charged with first-degree murder on Wednesday. He’s accused of crossing the state border with a semiautomatic rifle and joining a group of heavily armed white vigilantes who sought to “protect” public property in Kenosha, where he shot three people, killing two. [Huff Post, 8/27/20]
The news is that gun sales are up dramatically: due perhaps to COVID-19 and the culture of fear promoted by the Executive Branch, but also fueled by years of bad policy and congressional inaction. Newtown? Orlando? Charleston? Pittsburg? Did our leaders do anything?
Now, with legitimate protest around police brutality and state-sponsored violence, we've got 17-year-old white kids wandering around with semiautomatic rifles shooting at whomever they please. If we continue to allow this insanity, we have given up on the democratic project. That project has nothing to do with armed 17-year-old vigilantes keeping whatever they call "peace" (i.e. white supremacy and xenophobia). The democratic project has to do with...wait for it...DEMOCRACY: a culture of participation, education, negotiation and democratic engagement. In a lively, thriving democracy, we are not fueling madness with crazed racists wandering around with semiautomatic weapons. In a lively, thriving democracy, we are looking one another in the eye, speaking our varied truths, learning from one another, and then negotiating through legislation and election.
If there's a political party out there interested in 'making America great' or even just a little bit better, they'd do well to get these brutal weapons of death out of the hands of teenagers...and so many others who have no place carrying them. Let's recommit to democracy...before it's too late.
The message: VOTE!
