We as a nation grew this week, even if it was only incremental. The surviving students from the Parkland Fl. High School shooting witnessed seventeen of their classmates killed by an irrational gunman. They have achieved what has seemed to be improbable for the state of Florida, modifying its gun laws. This is the same Florida which made The Stand Your Ground Laws, giving George Zimmerman the right to hunt down a black youth and shoot him to death. He then said it was his right to do so. Yes, the students’ protests have brought to fruition laws signed by Governor Rick Scott. What do these new laws do:

1 Raise the minimum age limit to purchase a gun from 18 to 21.

2 Create a waiting period. This means prospective gun buyers will have to wait for 3 days or until background checks are complete. Whichever is longer.

3 Ban dump stocks. Dump stocks are devices that can be attached to semi-automatic rifles to enable them to fire like an automatic assault rifle.

4 Perhaps the most controversial move of all, teachers will be armed. Now the question is , who will  protect the students from an unhinged teacher?

Note, if this was any other country I would not have a need to pose that question. If this was any other country this would not be an issue. But this is America, and it has a long history of racial intolerance and gun violence. As a Black person who has seen the evolution of the school to prison pipeline, I have reason to be concerned. When insanity and violence rears its head , America chooses to turn a blind eye.  White American culture is impulsive and spontaneous, it’s not akin to deep thought and restraint, and it is named white privilege.  But it’s the way a white person moves through life in America. They are not disciplined by their parents, they are not taught consequences for their actions. And as a result, we are a nation of irresponsibility. It has been  proven time and time again throughout history that their acts of hatred bear little to no consequence .This is more prominent in southern states, such as Florida. We witness that in the kid glove treatment of George Zimmerman by the police and how the white population rallied around him after he murdered Treyvon Martin.  Fundraisers were pushed to fight for his cause, the cause of white apathy. I was appalled by the flood of money from the white community in support of Zimmerman. It was as if they were happy he did it and felt the need to publicly reward him for acting on their behalf. The immoral message it conveyed was received by the masses. Soon after, again in Florida, a gun man opened fire on a group of black youths in their SUV playing music as they waited for service at a fast food restaurant. One was killed and others injured. But what is to be expected from a country whose history is littered with lynching? The audience to these horrific events consisted of white faces, amused by the brutal burning and hanging of black people. The hate lesson has been taught, learned and entrenched into the psyche of the white population, to the point that it’s almost impossible to unlearn.  Why do they hate us? What have we done to them? We did not enslave them, we did not use Jim Crow laws to oppress them. No, it’s the way of racism and how it affects them. Like an inheritance, they’ve adopted their forefather’s hatred to release upon us. Hate can be unlearned but they must want to unlearn that hate by first admitting they possess it. Some of the most racist people deny they are racist. Now, we are arming with guns those who we have allowed to teach our children, and still they harbour an abhorrence for us in their hearts. The school to prison pipeline shows us what we’ve already known, many teachers do not hold the best interest of their black students in their hearts.

The United States of America bears a striking resemblance to a rising Nazi Germany. We have Nazis with new monikers. White nationalists, The K.K.K, Skinheads, etc.  White supremacy has gripped the world with its ideals. With its mighty military, America kills millions of non-white people around the world. But genocide in the name of greed is not an unfamiliar thing to white people and does not raise concern amongst its population. America has been at war since 9/11, approximately seventeen years, and there is no end in sight to its wars. But the killing we do overseas has found a way of returning to us.  Here, home grown terrorists armed with guns made by US manufacturers are killing in the streets, in the homes, the schools, the churches. Aided by special interest group (NRA) and our outdated constitution (2^nd amendment the right to bear arms) they kill each other in masses, and there is no light at the end of the tunnel indicating an ending to the bloodshed. But more importantly, our leaders have sold their heart and soul to the NRA, preventing any sensible solutions.

Back in the late sixties to early seventies we were at war in Vietnam , and young people all around the country protested.  Students at Kent State University took a stand, some sacrificed their lives. As a result, soon after we began to withdraw from Vietnam. Here again it is young people who are taking a stand, leading the way to a safer world. They are standing against the irrationality of their elders and the greed of corporations. I only wish they would make the eradication of the right to bear arms their primary objective.