[col. writ. 8/6/12] © ’12 Mumia Abu-Jamal
And here we go—again.
A man walks into a temple, a holy place, and unleashes hell.
He kills 6 people and wounds others, before his own life is taken.
The Temple is the gathering place of Sikhs, a faith founded in India some 5 centuries ago, which reveres the teachings of its Gurus (or teachers), and the writings that followed.
A holy place; an unholy response.
And yes, here we go again.
This is so – American.
Just days after Aurora, Colorado, within memory of Virginia Tech, Columbine and beyond, we are in an American cycle.
A cycle of violence. A cycle of hatred. A cycle of the American impulse for massacre.
We don’t often say such things out loud, in public, but this nation was founded on massacres. It’s not politic to remember the millions of so-called Indians who were liquidated to make Lebensraum (living room), for refugees from Europe who couldn’t countenance living among native peoples (or any other non-whites, for that matter).
And now, today, a real mostly-Indian temple is attacked by a white man who doesn’t want them in his neighborhood; his country; his world.
The cycle continues.
© ’12 maj