One of the distasteful aspects of our national mass-shooting ritual is the part where we all speculate about the motives and identity of the shooter before we know anything about them, just to make sure we can get a dunk in on our ideological opponents.
We're not saying "don't politicize this," because there often are real social and political issues at play. What we *are* saying is that people should question their kneejerk reactions when those reactions are always to blame groups of people they are already inclined to dislike.
On that note: tragedies like this are just as worthy of our attention as the more dramatic Columbine-style mass shootings are (maybe more so, as they're distressingly common). But it's rare that they're discussed except as rhetorical point-scoring.
https://twitter.com/NYDailyNews/status/1374412390272434181
To be blunt, it's rare that someone who utters the phrase "what about black-on-black crime?" actually has any investment in solving the problem of violence in inner-city neighborhoods.
But it's also true that very few politicians in either major party are trying hard enough.
But it's also true that very few politicians in either major party are trying hard enough.
Many of our communities *simultaneously* suffer from poor relationships with the police, a history of abuses, etc, and high violent crime levels.
They don't need more OR less policing, but *better* policing that does more of what it should and less of what it shouldn't.
They don't need more OR less policing, but *better* policing that does more of what it should and less of what it shouldn't.
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