Last Saturday (August 3) a shooter killed 22 people in El Paso, Texas. The next day (August 4) another shooter killed nine people in Dayton, Ohio. These two horrific events happened within 24 hours of each other. Both white shooters were acting alone. And both shooters were armed with military-type assault rifles. Despite these similarities, they were very different.
The El Paso shooter posted a “manifesto” in which he explained why he was killing Latinos. The shooter said his attack on Latinos was to prevent the shift of political power from whites to nonwhites. The shooter blamed this shift, in part, on the Democratic Party and Republican and Democratic corporate elites. Also, he targeted Latinos as a way of mitigating the problems created by automation, climate change, and competition between skilled workers of Latino heritage and skilled native workers.
The El Paso shooter posted a “manifesto” in which he explained why he was killing Latinos. The shooter said his attack on Latinos was to prevent the shift of political power from whites to nonwhites. The shooter blamed this shift, in part, on the Democratic Party and Republican and Democratic corporate elites. Also, he targeted Latinos as a way of mitigating the problems created by automation, climate change, and competition between skilled workers of Latino heritage and skilled native workers.
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The Dayton shooter, on the other hand, appears to have been a disturbed individual who struggled with depression. The victims of this shooter cut across racial, age, and gender differences, although there is some evidence that the shooter was a misogynist. He shot and killed his sister in the incident.
While these two incidents did occur at the same time, the El Paso shooter’s motivation was political. The Main Stream Media (MSM) has fused these two incidents. Just as many of us, when faced with one difficult task, substitute a slightly less burdensome one, the MSM rushed to lament the lack of gun safety laws. But, the reason for the El Paso shooting was white nationalism, not the availability of guns.
White nationalism differs from prejudice and racism. Prejudice is a belief in the superiority of whites but does not imply actions. Racism involves steps an individual or group may take because they believe whites are superior to people of color. White nationalism or supremacy are policies, practices, and procedures designed to promote whites at the expense of people of color. The El Paso shooter identified himself as a part of a national and international white nationalist movement to limit or remove people color from places they believe to belong to whites.
Gun laws that limit the availability of guns are needed in the U.S. Too many people die in the U.S. because guns are in the hands of people who should never have been allowed to have them. The U.S. gun problem should not be confused with racism and white nationalism. The easy availability of guns has undoubtedly worsened the threat posed by white nationalism. But more restrictive gun laws in Europe has neither solved European white nationalism nor eliminated gun violence by white nationalists.
Unless we directly confront white nationalism, we can predict more violence against people of color. And in a country where guns are readily available, we can expect a violent backlash.
While these two incidents did occur at the same time, the El Paso shooter’s motivation was political. The Main Stream Media (MSM) has fused these two incidents. Just as many of us, when faced with one difficult task, substitute a slightly less burdensome one, the MSM rushed to lament the lack of gun safety laws. But, the reason for the El Paso shooting was white nationalism, not the availability of guns.
White nationalism differs from prejudice and racism. Prejudice is a belief in the superiority of whites but does not imply actions. Racism involves steps an individual or group may take because they believe whites are superior to people of color. White nationalism or supremacy are policies, practices, and procedures designed to promote whites at the expense of people of color. The El Paso shooter identified himself as a part of a national and international white nationalist movement to limit or remove people color from places they believe to belong to whites.
Gun laws that limit the availability of guns are needed in the U.S. Too many people die in the U.S. because guns are in the hands of people who should never have been allowed to have them. The U.S. gun problem should not be confused with racism and white nationalism. The easy availability of guns has undoubtedly worsened the threat posed by white nationalism. But more restrictive gun laws in Europe has neither solved European white nationalism nor eliminated gun violence by white nationalists.
Unless we directly confront white nationalism, we can predict more violence against people of color. And in a country where guns are readily available, we can expect a violent backlash.
