#AmericaIsNotSafe for our children
Trump’s rhetoric of hate and division has made us less safe. Because of him, “the base,” the NRA and their bought and paid for politicians, #AmericaIsAWarZone. Even our homes are not safe, according to a DOJ statistic that there are more than a million home invasions per year — with around 130 million households, that means around 1.3 home invasions out of every 100 HOMES… home where we all look to as our last, safest refuge. #AmericaIsNotSafe
My son is a bit of a phenom. He’s a tech obsessed teen who is a gifted graphics developer for game engines, working with much older adult developers around the world from his little room in our small rural suburb near Raleigh, North Carolina. He’s self-taught, yet has gained accolades and respect from software companies and engineers alike. However, his teen passion is not his life goal. When he was but eight years old, he knew he wanted to be a bio-medical technologies engineer. He decided he needs to be a doctor to do that, to really make the technologies integrated to best meet the use by doctors and patients. He overcame his ADHD on the Autism Spectrum to put himself on the path to his goals. His success earned his way into a prestigious magnate high school Health Science Academy program, where he finished his first four quarters on the honor roll.
His teachers tell me he’s “a wonderful person” — not “a great kid” — “a wonderful PERSON.” He cares deeply. He loves helping others. He wants to make a difference. He’s chosen a path to do the most good he can conceive for the most people for the rest of his life. This is my son.
This is also my son: When the El Paso shooting was happening, my fifteen year old was online with the twenty to thirty-five year old developers with whom he works on a highly popular game engine. I will not share which one because that would identify my son and all his fellow developers to the world.
One of the adults announced the shooting in El Paso, my son said it wouldn’t matter, it wouldn’t change anything so he just wanted to get on with developing. Those adults were appalled at his “dark cynicism” because, as they pointed out, “You’re only fifteen.” He pointed out that he’s lived through regular active shooter drills. That at each of his elementary, middle, and high schools he’s been through multiple real-time lockdowns.
Hours later, the Dayton, Ohio shooting was unfolding — proof of his point.
Why isn’t every parent in America shattered by this? It has become our children’s lives. This horror is normal to them because they’ve grown up under this threat — they’ve lived in an American war zone every single day of their lives. America is not safe for our children. There is literally no place where it is safe for Americans or our children to gather.
I am a mother weeping and infuriated by turns…
