A Pantagraph Editorial:
Last night's vigil to remember recent victims of gun violence perhaps can fortify the belief that our lives — black, white, brown and blue — have more similarities than differences.
The vigil, sponsored by Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal at First Christian Church in downtown Bloomington, remembered the victims and families who have pulled heartstrings and produced headlines across the country. The vigil came less than two weeks after NIOT marked its 20th anniversary in the fight against discrimination.
Between July 1 and July 6, more than a dozen people — civilians and police — in the United States were injured in police-involved shootings, according to research by The Guardian and published at www.stltoday.com. Those numbers do not include the shootings that occurred late last week and over the weekend.
Last week was a deadly week in America. It always is, but the biggest headlines focused on shootings that involved people of color and law enforcement. Both sides had guns, and both sides fell victim. And the nation spent a weekend in disbelief and grief.
America cannot continue at this pace. We have lost civility and understanding and empathy, with hatred fueled by 140-word rants.
A mother who loses her son on Chicago streets grieves no less or no more than a mother who loses her officer son in Dallas, or a mother who loses her soldier daughter in Iraq. When a life is lost to violence, a community must grieve for a broader loss of innocence.
A divided country cannot stand; we learned that lesson once, and the hundreds of thousands of Civil War dead bore witness to the futility of that fight.
Desperate people across the United States are hurting and hungry, and we must find a way to alleviate that. We no longer can point fingers in hopes of finding a cause and a solution. We must agree that all lives matter; that civil discussions allow for all points of view; and that our similarities are greater than our differences. Only then is there hope that we can move forward.
We must take a step, however tentative, to quell the violence and hatred in our communities and our country. Pray for your neighbors, pray for strangers, pray for the families, pray for those who protect us and for those in such pain that violence seems the only answer.
Reach out to a stranger; reach a hand toward someone in need. Speak up when someone says or does something that promotes violence and divisiveness rather than love and caring.
Support the police. Support social services that help families in need. Support groups that share the messages of race, religion, abilities and gender.
The NIOT vigil was a way to remember those we have lost. It also was a step forward for our community to focus on a common goal of making sure America is the safe, strong and welcoming country the world knows it to be.
