My fifteen year old daughter was crying last night.
It was my fault. She was in the room with me when I watched the news about the attempted assassination of of Congresswoman Gifford by Jared Lee Laughner. She also heard that the same killer had murdered a Federal Judge, John Roll. She heard that this madman killed a nine year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, a member of her elementary school student council.
Most of all she heard about the “Targeting” facebook page by Sarah Palin’s political action committee, which placed images of cross-haired gun sights over districts held by Democrats, and named Congresswoman Gifford as one of the Democrats to be targeted.
She heard that Jesse Kelly, Ms. Gifford’s Tea Party opponent in the recent election held campaign events at shooting ranges:
Giffords’ tea party-backed opponent, Jesse Kelly, held a fundraiser at a shooting range in which he invited supporters to “help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office” by shooting an M16 with him. They pointed to an online map Sarah Palin posted during the midterm elections that used gun sites to mark each congressional Democrat she wanted to defeat, along with her frequent use of shooting metaphors on the campaign trail.
She already knew about the violent hate-filled language on talk radio and Fox News against Muslims, Gays, Democrats and liberals. She already knew about Bill O’Reilly’s campaign against Dr. George Tiller, calling him repeatedly “Tiller the Baby Killer”, calling him a Nazi and warning of a “Judgment Day” in the months leading up to the assassination of Dr. Tiller at his own church.
She already knew about Sharon Angle’s comment that “second amendment remedies” might be needed and that Nevadans need to “take out” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
She already knew about Jim Adkisson, a devoted fan of Michael Savage and Fox News “personalities” Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly. Adkisson walked into a Unitarian-Universalist Church* in Knoxville with the specific intent to kill liberals (as indicated in his own manifesto)and shot dead two innocent church goers before being subdued. Here’s what Adkisson said about the reasons for his shooting spree at the church:
“Know this if nothing else: This was a hate crime. I hate the damn left-wing liberals. There is a vast left-wing conspiracy in this country & these liberals are working together to attack every decent & honorable institution in the nation, trying to turn this country into a communist state. Shame on them….
“This was a symbolic killing. Who I wanted to kill was every Democrat in the Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg’s book. I’d like to kill everyone in the mainstream media. But I know those people were inaccessible to me. I couldn’t get to the generals & high ranking officers of the Marxist movement so I went after the foot soldiers, the chickenshit liberals that vote in these traitorous people. Someone had to get the ball rolling. I volunteered. I hope others do the same. It’s the only way we can rid America of this cancerous pestilence.”
“I thought I’d do something good for this Country Kill Democrats til the cops kill me….Liberals are a pest like termites. Millions of them Each little bite contributes to the downfall of this great nation. The only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is to kill them in the streets. Kill them where they gather. I’d like to encourage other like minded people to do what I’ve done. If life aint worth living anymore don’t just kill yourself. do something for your Country before you go. Go Kill Liberals.
She knew about that death threats against President Obama since his election had increased by a factor of 400% over those made against President Bush during his eight years in office.
Most of all she knew that her grandparents, who live in Arizona, and her aunt who lives in Colorado, both support the Tea Party.
Let me paraphrase as best I can what she told me last night about why she was so upset that she cried herself to sleep as I held her in my arms:
“Don’t they know about these [killings and hate speech]?”
She asked me if I had called them to talk to them about the shootings? I told her no.
“Why not. You should do that right now.”
I told her that I didn’t believe based on my past conversations with her that
I told her that I didn’t think they would listen to me because my political beliefs are in opposition to theirs.
“But they are good people. I’m sure if they knew about [these matters I could get them to stop supporting the Tea Party]. I bet if I could get them to watch Keith Olbermann’s special comment [about the Gifford’s shooting] that he made tonight they would understand. He was so good [at explaining why all the hate speech is fueling the violence from the fringe].”
I told her maybe they would listen to her, but that she shouldn’t get her hopes up.
Then she asked me if she thought her grandparents wouldn’t like her because she had joined a club at her school, the “Gay Straight Alliance” or GSA.
I told her that her grandparents would always love her regardless of whatever clubs she joined, even of they didn’t approve. And I told her I was very proud of her.
“Of course your proud of me, Dad. You’re my Daddy. You’re always proud of me no matter what.”
I explained that yes, I was always proud of her, but that I had good reasons, and that joining GSA was a positive thing she was doing to offer support for Gay people, especially those at her school who might be at increased risk of bullying and suicide. That what she did in standing up for her beliefs and acting on those beliefs was important, that it helped others.
Then the conversation turned darker.
“I’m worried that [with all the gun in Arizona] Grandma and Grandpa might be shot. I don’t want them to die. And I don’t want to go to Arizona to visit them. It’s too crazy there. To many people are being killed there. I don’t want to be shot.” [Steven D: This is a much shortened paraphrase of what she really said last night, but it conveys the gist–that she was concerned about her grandparent’s safety and her own safety.]
I told her that her grandparents were very unlikely to be shot, nor would she be in any significant danger if she visited them there, but she was not convinced. I then tried to explain to her that this is what terrorists want from us. They want is to be afraid to express our opinions. That they are a small minority of people whom attempt to use a few incidents of violence to scare people from living their lives without fear. That is the very essence of terrorism: to intimidate your opponents or those who do not believe as they do into silence.
Unfortunately she wasn’t buying it, at least last night.
“Daddy, can we move [to a different country] if a really crazy Republican gets elected President? I don’t want to be like the people who didn’t move [out of Germany] after [Hitler and the Nazis] took over. Lots of people say that ‘why didn’t [the Jews and other persecuted people] move when the Nazis came’ and I tell them that no one could have predicted that [the Nazis] would go so far, that the Holocaust would happen. But we can see what’s happening in our country. We know what could happen. I don’t want to be like the people who didn’t move because they couldn’t see [how things would turn out in Germany].”
I didn’t know what to say immediately. Then I told her it was our job to make sure that never happened. But still she persisted.
“But if we don’t? Can we move?“
I asked her where we could go.
“Canada.”
I tried to tell her that Canada has it’s own immigration laws and that we would have no guarantee that they would allow us to emigrate.
“There must be someplace we could go.”
I told her I didn’t know, for I don’t. I wanted to tell her that I don’t want to leave my country. That I believe that we can turn things around. That we can make this country better than the one she has lived through in her short life. But I didn’t. I just held her while tears dripped from her eyes.
Finally, I told her I loved her.
“I love you too Daddy.”
We held each other after that, her face nuzzled under my chin. What else can one do when the world frightens your child, your brave outspoken child, who cares so much for other people, even those unlike herself. Who doesn’t believe violence is a solution to anything. What else could I do but express my love for her and hope that would be enough, come the morning, to have put her fears to rest.
