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The power of the pen and protests
I’m fearful.
It’s just days since I shared
an extraordinary week with
my children and grandchildren
so the news of the shooting at
the Florida school hit me in
my heart. It could have been
my child.
We are blessed to live in a city
where the crime rate is at historic
lows but unlicensed guns
are still a problem and since
there are holes in our background
check system, mentally
ill people can buy guns.
Each Sunday, I watch the talk
shows and sadly heard reporter
after reporter talk about the
small chance of any changes
in federal law. But, being an
optimist, I believe change can
come.
It’s a time for compromise
and taking a message from
Martin Luther King that our
leaders can come together, listen
to each other, and reconcile
their differences.
It could be my child’s school
where an insane person carrying
an automatic weapon kills.
I was in my hotel room
when I saw the leader of the
NRA Wayne LaPierre and his
spokeswoman Dana Loesch
on TV pointedly saying, “They
are trying to take away all our
guns,” and calling efforts to ban
assault weapons a “Violation
of our Second Amendment
rights.”
I don’t get it. No one is saying
to take away guns. Am I
hearing two different worlds
talking? Because I hear a call
for federal registration of guns
and background checks of buyers
wherever they are purchasing
guns. There are voices calling
for the regulation of automatic
weapons of war which
currently can easily make their
way into the hands of the general
public. It seems so bizarre
to see the ugly statements that
deflect from the real agenda.
Anti-media messages delivered
at the CPAC conferences
are a way to deflect from the
truth -- that there are dead
kids who were killed by an
insane person carrying an
automatic weapon. Truth cannot
be clearer. This is not editorializing.
It’s reporting the
facts.
Over 40 years ago, I led a
group of women who marched
and picketed at Willowbrook
State School on Staten Island
over the abominable conditions
that helpless children
with developmental disabilities
were living in. We protested,
profoundly moved by what our
eyes, ears and noses found in
the back wards.
It was the consistent reporting
by passionate reporter
Geraldo Rivera that raised the
city’s consciousness of what
was going on at Willowbrook.
It was his reporting that motivated
the parents association at
Willowbrook to file a federal
class action lawsuit.
Yes, we are a nation of laws
and when we won the case, the
people living in desperate conditions
were released into community
homes accompanied
by day programs. They now
live a life of dignity. Change
happened.
I see the marchers’ power
today. Protests can shift the
conversation. We want our
leaders to work together to find
solutions.
Our great country always
had disputes between parties
and we survived. Compromise
made it possible.
All good people should take
the time to write our president
and ask him to take action.
There’s been enough talk. We
need action. Let’s lift our pens
and be heard.
It could be my child’s school
under attack. It could be yours.
Students protested in the days after the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, FL.
That’s me on the left protesting at the Willowbrook State School