Friday, July 24, 2015

Violent States of America

I have a friend coming to stay with me from China in the Fall so rediscovering the everyday violence of this society is doubly a shock. How will things appear to him, I ask myself? Should I be encouraging him to come at all? The Washington Post article whose headline I posted above includes a quote from an Economist editorial after Charleston:
It gets worse. 204 is only a small fraction of the number of people killed by guns in this country this year and every year. And, as the country has become aware in the year I've been away, 204 is barely a third as many as have been killed by the police so far this year. Like Sandra Bland. Unlawfully arrested Sandra Bland. Heartbreak. Horror. Tragedy. Shame.