David Fitzsimmons, the Arizona Daily Star’s political satirist and cartoonist extraordinaire, is also a prolific Facebook poster. This Facebook post caught my attention today:
Perspective on gun violence: In Chicago 1187 people have been shot since January. In Chicago a person is shot every 3 minutes. A person is murdered every 20 hours. I’d rather talk about whether or not to fly a confederate flag, too.
Good point. I have seen a lot of you posting about “take down the flag” of treason at the South Carolina capitol, which I find curious because the Confederacy lives on in the flags of seven Southern states. Why just South Carolina? Why not the Flag of Mississippi?
It should be abundantly clear to everyone by now, even those idiots at FAUX News, that the shooting in Charleston was racially motivated. Dylann Roof’s racist manifesto: ‘I have no choice’.
But Charleston is also part of the larger narrative of the carnage of gun violence in America. The horrific body counts in the City of Chicago, largely unreported in the mainstream media outside of Chicago, are to a large extent the result of black-on-black gang related violence, not the hand of Neo-Confederate white supremacists.
The Chicago Tribune actually runs a regular feature on Chicago shooting victims – Crime in Chicagoland which is updated monthly. What the Chicago Tribune published today should shock the conscience of a nation. Instead, it will not be reported outside of the City of Chicago.
Americans have grown numb to gun violence, and are resigned to a do-nothing Congress that takes the campaign contributions of the merchants of death to do nothing about enacting sensible gun regulations that could reduce this senseless slaughter of human life.
Chicago shooting victims
Last updated June 21, 2015
The map below shows where people were shot in Chicago, broken down by community area. Darker shades of blue indicate greater numbers of victims in those community areas.
This data is compiled from reporting done by the Chicago Tribune Breaking News staff and is updated approximately once per month. Therefore, the most recent shootings may not be displayed immediately.
Screen shots of interactive map
Whenever a liberal speaks of “sensible gun laws”, what they are actually saying is: “Let’s pass gun laws as restrictive as we can and then then keep tightening them until we ban them completely.”
There is too much evidence of what “sensible gun laws” means to liberals to fool anyone any more. Chicago is a great example where the powers that be have basically banned legal ownership of guns and the only people that have guns are the criminals. No surprise there….
On your point about the Confederate flag and why just South Carolina? There are people in all states who would like people to stop flying it, in those seven there are movements to get rid of all traces of it on their flags. But if you can first get rid of it in South Carolina, where the Confederacy was born, then you can get rid of it everywhere. As long as it continues to be flown above all other flags (by virtue of it not being flown at half-staff like all other flags in SC due to this week’s mass murder) it will continue elsewhere. Get rid of it in SC government and you have a movement that could be successful elsewhere.
There are also some people who have suggested burning the Confederate flag as a statement against racism. First, burning something is by itself a violent statement, it is a threat to burn the people supporting that flag. Second, burning that flag would only gain it free speach supporters that might not otherwise support it, on the idea that an overtly aggressive act tends to backfire dramatically as the shooter’s own act has indeed done. I would like to suggest an equally mischievous but far less aggressive act against those Confederate flags that people like to fly — I call it Tag the Flag. I want to see people using spray paint against Confederate flags. Spray them green, spray them with peace slogans, spray them with Obama sunrise symbols, spray them with white bird dropping immitations! As a matter of fact use a paint ball gun! Shooting white paint balls at one of these flags will look very similar to bird droppings having hit the mark! Tag the Flag. Think of it as a statement, a mischief, and a comedic intervention all rolled into one. Tag the Flag. Much better than burning it. Remember don’t get into a fight with someone flying one of these things, it is not worth it, you can purchase one and tag it yourself, then plant it for all to see. A symbol, once tagged, of a group of states who should be embarrassed by the company they keep.
If you are successful in removing the Confederate flag, what comes next? Do you begin demanding the hundreds of Confederate memorials be taken down, as well? Or perhaps museums should be required to remove Confederate antiquities from their displays? I am just wondering how far you think we should go to protect the sensibilities of modern observers regarding the Confederacy.