Savory Sonoma by Stephanie Hiller - June 2018
At the May meeting of the
No, nothing has been done, and it’s unacceptable that children go to school afraid they might not survive the day.
If Texas, where the Santa Fe shooting occurred, turns out to be the first to do something about this problem that will be a miracle. Of all the states in the country, Texas is the most deeply embedded in the gun culture and so-called Second Amendment “rights”; and Mr. Trump is on their side.
Texans certainly haven’t heard historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz debunk the myth that the Second Amendment guarantees personal liberty in the shape of a pistol. According to her, the Second Amendment was forged to allow the formation of local militias to take the lands and lives of the Native Americans who lived here, not to protect the “freedom” of all Americans to carry a weapon. Her new book, Loaded, is subtitled “A Disarming History of the Second Amendment.”
Violence seems to be interwoven in the very fabric of our society. Despite all the platitudes spun about our exceptional democracy, the stark truth remains: this country was built on slaughter and slavery. In my day, kids grew up playing cowboys and Indians as if it were natural. Now they can access all kinds of violence on smart phones and computers. The Internet is rife with monsters masquerading as heroes and it has made sex trafficking of women and girls so easy. In her book, Epidemic, America’s Trade in Child Rape, Lori Handrahan reveals things you don’t want to know about the link between pornography and sexual slavery. It goes on everywhere, even in pristine Sonoma County, where we have a Task Force on Trafficking because it is here.
Tourism helps provide customers seeking perverse entertainments after dark. How can we get so aroused about stopping abortion in this country but can’t stop the use of the Internet for the sex trade? We are not talking consensual sex here, or girls who dress too naughty or otherwise bring on the abusers.
Most vulnerable are the mentally disabled, who may have been traumatized in their own homes or in foster care before being picked up with promises of fine clothing and all the treats a lonely child desires, promises only good for the initial induction. Most incredible of all is the role that some pediatric oncologists play in the trade and torture of small children. I can’t write this here. You’ll have to get the book. But torturing children is not unknown, even at our beloved Sonoma Developmental Center, which has its own tawdry history.
What’s wrong with the human race? Is this “human nature”? It’s disgusting! As if the Nazis weren’t enough, men—yes, mostly men—persist in these endeavors, making the world a filthy dangerous place when it was created to be paradise. This month we heard Trump calling immigrants animals. Animals, god knows, behave better. Who is he talking about? How dare he speak of any moral virtue, having defiled them all—and this man is president??
“March for Our Lives”carries a strong message; or it should. The movement, which filled the streets of Washington DC with thousands of fervent young people March 24, has championed two goals: to require universal background checks for prospective gun purchasers, and raise the legal age to 21.
That, and getting the younger generation to vote! (The assembled Dems clapped for that one.)
But what about a ban on assault weapons? “We’re trying to start with the smaller stuff,” said Emma Maggioncalda. Is that going to be enough?
Ava Rognlien said reducing the number of guns was a step. “If you have a gun to protect yourself you’re mostly trying to protect yourself from someone else with a gun. If you reduce the number of guns, you won’t have that fear.”
It’s a start, but what about boys who fire off AK47s at unarmed students? We have to do much more to show that this culture of violence we have spawned is not the natural way of humans.
“It’s not just school shootings,” said Ali De Klercq. “There are Americans who live with violence every day of their lives.”
