A violent nation murders its own —
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY
Editing, brief comment by Carolyn Bennett
“… The rhetoric is incredibly heated—not just the calls, but the emails, the slurs. … Things have really gotten spun up. … You’ve got to think about it — Our democracy is a light, a beacon, really, around the world because we effect change at the ballot box … not because of these … outbursts of violence in certain cases and the yelling… Change is important. It’s a part of our process but it’s really important that we focus on the fact that we have a democratic process.…
“It is important for all leaders … [including] community leaders, figures in our community, to say, ‘Look, we can’t stand for this.’ … We need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up [issuing targets lists, publishing crosshairs of a gun sight over our congressional districts] … — when people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action.”
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Gabrielle Giffords shot by a U.S. assassin over the weekend was speaking in March of last year.
Democracy Now spoke today with Representative Giffords’ colleague in the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona, Congressman Raúl Grijalva. This is some of what he said.
“There’s a tone and a tenor that’s been set in our national dialogue that we cannot get away from.
“Each member of Congress, each governor and the leadership in our state had better reflect on this and take it very seriously.
“Words have consequences, as Gabby said.”
Setting a tone — whether it is through the shock radio disc jockeys in Arizona and elsewhere where [personalities] continue to promote divisiveness and hatred, where they demonize people, where they make a politician who disagrees with them not just an opponent but a deadly enemy — these things have consequences. A toxic atmosphere develops.
“I think everybody needs to take a step back and realize that they have some shared responsibility. This is not about abridging free speech. This is not about the right to petition our government. This is not about the right to assemble. This is about responsibility.”
As leaders, we must lead by example. Introduce civility, healthy, hard-fought debate — without demonizing or making people our enemies.
Sources and notes
“‘Politics in Arizona Have Become Fueled By Hate...Driven By Anger:’ Rep. Raúl Grijalva on Shooting of Giffords— Federal prosecutors have charged Jared Lee Loughner with the attempted assassination of [U.S.] Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). She was shot in the back of the head at close range on Saturday morning outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona, where she was holding an event called ‘Congress on Your Corner’ to meet with constituents. In all, 20 people were shot, six were killed. The dead include U.S. District Judge John Roll, Congresswoman Giffords’ aide, Gabriel Zimmerman, a nine-year-old girl born on September 11, 2001, and three people in their late 70s,” January 10, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/10/politics_in_arizona_have_become_fueled
Gabrielle Giffords is a U.S. Representative from Arizona. She was born in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona (June 8, 1970). She was a member of the Arizona state house of representatives (2001-2003) and member of the Arizona state senate (2003-2005) before being elected to the 110th Congress and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2007-present). She is a member of the Democratic Party. Giffords has been a businesswoman and analyst; and is a graduate of Scripps College (Claremont, California, BA, 1993) and Cornell University (M.R.P, Ithaca, N.Y., 1996), http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000554
Raúl M. Grijalva is a U.S. Representative from Arizona. He was born in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona (February 19, 1948). He was a member of the Unified School Board (1974-1986) and supervisor of Pima County, Arizona (1989-2002) before being elected to the 108th Congress and to four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2003-present). He is a member of the Democratic Party. Grijalva is a graduate of the University of Arizona (BA, 1986), http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000551
_____________________________________________
Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
_____________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment