On Gun Violence and Young Minds

TW: Trauma, gun violence, harm.

While the world erupted around the murder of Charlie Kirk, three students were critically wounded that same afternoon in a shooting at Evergreen High School in the Colorado foothills. And real talk?

You probably missed it because national news focused more time and energy addressing the visceral murder of a white supremacist bigot and social media influencer.

You probably missed it because school shootings are as American as apple pie, to the point where they get national attention just to be forgotten in 30 minutes or less.

Let's be real: both situations shine a glaring light on the seemingly never-ending debate around sensible gun laws in the United States, currently the only major country in world history that refuses to address how dangerous guns are to the overall mental, physical, and emotional health and safety of the citizenry.

One dominated the airwaves because of the celebrity of it all.

One has already been relegated to a footnote in time.

Both situations leave this country's legislators, once again, refusing to address one of the biggest issues in this country: we really don't care about the lives of children in the United States.

It's really sickening to watch.

We don't care about the young minds who witnessed Charlie Kirk's murder. How do you think those young people are doing today, after witnessing a murder?

We don't care about the young minds who witnessed their school become a firing range in the Colorado foothills. How do you think those young people are doing today, after witnessing one of their classmates attempt to kill them?

These young folx are never going to be the same again. I can't imagine the trauma witnesses and victims endured during both of these events yesterday. Traumas like this have no boundaries and choose no favorites. And yet, no one in the news media is talking about the harm done to these young minds. Nope, it's flowery eulogies for a horrid man and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it coverage of a school shooting that isn't even in the news cycle anymore.

I hope these children have helpful and supportive families and communities that will help them heal...because this country sure as hell doesn't care if they live, die, or thrive.

On Charlie

So...Charlie Kirk was shot this afternoon while in Utah on one of his college campus indoctrination of young adults tours. He was shot while in the middle of talking about how trans mass shooters are one of the largest dangers to our society when the truth is cishet men of pallor are overwhelmingly the largest demographic of mass shooters and domestic terrorists in the United States.

All reports state that he didn't make it.

In other news, I'm making okra and tomatoes, cornbread, and fish for dinner. So...I'm really looking forward to that.

Now, before some of y'all call me out for being callous, let me just stop you right there because you'll be wasting your time and energy.

Charlie Kirk was a deplorable human being. His legacy will be that of a deplorable human being who added nothing to society other than pain and oppression by elevating hate in every space he could present it in.

You get from the universe what you put into it.

That includes violence, hate, and harm.

I shed no tears for horrible people who believe me or anyone else shouldn't exist or should be oppressed. I have no thoughts and prayers for them. Yeah, it sucks that we live in a country where anyone can be shot at any given time, regardless of whether I condone their beliefs or not. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost because the U.S. cares more about the right to own a gun and do with it what you will than the lives of its citizenry. But people like Charlie Kirk literally advocated for opposing gun laws that could save lives. There's footage of him saying that he thought not having gun laws was worthwhile, even if it meant we "had a few gun deaths each year," because sensible gun laws would infringe on [white] people's "rights."

Ironic, and not in that Alanis Morrisette way.

You get from the universe what you put into it.

Regardless of how they view my existence or the existence of others without their privilege, power, and positionality, I don't want anyone to die at the hands of gun violence, or any kind of violence for that matter. But again, you get from the universe what you put into it.

And let's be real here: it'll be those who have no power who will catch the most harm from Charlie Kirk's death. The powers-that-be will be extra harsh toward "liberals" - not "liberals" of pallor, mind you, but those who fit the "DEI agenda" - in the aftermath of all of this. We'll all learn nothing from it and Charlie's hateful legacy will be viewed through rose-colored glasses. I'm already seeing news outlets gloss over how hateful and harmful he was, with pundits calling him a "godly man," "enormously courageous," "unapologetic about his views," and someone who "cared deeply about informing young voters."

So...yeah.

I'm making okra and tomatoes, cornbread, and fish for dinner.

I hope your dinner is equally as delicious as mine will be. Sending that energy your way...

...because you get from the universe what you put into it.

On Crate Walking, White Supremacy, and Reckless, Stupid, Dangerous Behavior

Y'all remember when people were out here tryin' t'walk up a pyramid of milk crates?

Image descriptions: the first image shows a woman of pallor precariously trying to scale a pyramid of milk crates. The second image shows the woman from the first image plummeting to the ground after the milk crate she was on failed to stay steady. In both pictures, people can be seen filming the fiasco with their cell phones.

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

That was some wild sh--, wasn't it? Just reckless, stupid, and dangerous behavior. And y’all was doin’ this nonsense in the middle of a pandemic! Like, bruh.

I remember at the time thinking, "Man, with everything going on, this is one of the dumbest, most dangerous thing I've seen people intentionally do in years." But now? It's not even in the top five reckless, stupid, and dangerous things I've seen people intentionally do in the last decade.

That distinction goes to everyone who voted for y'all's president and this current administration that thought they wouldn't get hurt by their idol who are still holding out hope that they'll be magically spared from the complete dismantling of the systems and protections that are keeping them alive and safe.

Just reckless, stupid, and dangerous behavior.

I would say you should've know better but a lot of y'all really thought you could walk up a stack of milk crates and come out unscathed so c'est la vie, eh?

[Image descriptions: the first image shows a woman of pallor precariously trying to scale a pyramid of milk crates. The second image shows the woman from the first image plummeting to the ground after the milk crate she was on failed to stay steady. In both pictures, people can be seen filming the fiasco with their cell phones.]

On The Spectrum and Fake Empathy

So...let me speak on this one time, mainly because I realized that I've talked about it everywhere else but here:

If you heard what RFK Jr. said about autism and you didn't find yourself infuriated, scared, and ready to stand up for people in your life and community, it says a lot about how you're deciding to be "present" in the moment right now.

It speaks volumes about how performative your "allyship" is in moments of grave danger. It is an indictment of how you view Black and Brown lives. It's shows how you view people with disabilities. And it wipes away you showing up at those Hands Off protests a few weekends ago.

Now, some of y'all are gonna read that and be like, "It can't simultaneously be all of that, Pharoah." But, you see, it can and is ALL OF THAT. Past precedent, established over hundreds of years, has shown us time and again that it is all of those things. Those of you who say it can't be are choosing to be highly uneducated in the ways of oppression and refuse to see how picking and choosing what you care about to feed your "good person" complex is a key component of white supremacist culture. And real talk?

Ain't nobody got time for your apathy and discomfort with things you feel don't impact your life poorly disguised as empathy. Lives are at stake.

History has shown us that when dangerous, uneducated people are given power and control over any aspect of the populace, they more often than not create an even more dangerous set of precedents than they inherited. RFK Jr. and the deceased brain worm chillin' in his head should've never been given dominion over the health and well-being of the country, but because 60% of men of pallor, 53% of women of pallor, and 50% of Latine and Hispanic men voted for y'all's president, we now have a man who staged a bear homicide out here saying inaccurate, derisive, and dangerous statements about autism that will endanger the lives of millions of people.

I refuse to reiterate anything that man and his parelaphostrongylus tenuis said, but we should all be able to see that his hateful words masquerading as "expert" and "empathic" language are going to cause so much unnecessary harm, sterotyping, and prejudice for millions of people. He clearly doesn't understand autism in any way, shape, or form, yet here we are with the safety of millions in the hands of a person who refuses to believe decades of legitimate research and thinks he knows something when he has shown us time and again he knows nothing.

This transcends race, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, and any other protected or non-protected class you might want to throw into the pot. But you know what?

EVERY FORM OF OPPRESSION DOES.

But y'all don't hear me, though.

And the wild thing is that most of y'all have autistic folx in your lives.

Just as wild is the fact that a whole grip of y'all are undiagnosed autistic folx who voted for what's about to happen.

Well, may the odds be forever in your favor, with yo' fake ass.