Roxanne Gay: What Is a Country That Won't Protect Its Children?

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New York Times Opinion
@nytopinion
America is a fundamentally uncivil country, writes @RGay. Despite politicians’ calls for civility, “the definition of civility is malleable and ever-changing. Civility is whatever enables them to wield power without question or challenge.”

nytimes.com
Opinion | What Is a Country That Won’t Protect Its Children?
There is nothing more uncivilized than the political establishment’s inurement to the constancy of mass shootings.
4:42 PM · May 25, 2022

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/opinion/roxane-gay-uvalde-school-shooting.html

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There is a cultural obsession nowadays with civility, with the idea that if everyone is mannered enough, any impasse or difference of opinion can be bridged. But these are desperately uncivil times. And there is nothing more uncivilized than the political establishment’s inurement to the constancy of mass shootings in the United States: 60 deaths in Las Vegas, 49 deaths in Orlando, 26 deaths at Sandy Hook, 13 deaths in Columbine, 10 deaths in Buffalo. Adults, schoolchildren, concertgoers, nightclub revelers, grocery shoppers, teachers.

The scale of death in Uvalde, Texas, is unfathomable. At least 19 children and two teachers are dead. These staggering numbers will not change one single thing.

Time and again we are told, both implicitly and explicitly, that all we can do is endure this constancy of violence. All we can do is hope these bullets don’t hit our children or us. Or our families. Or our friends and neighbors. And if we dare to protest, if we dare to express our rage, if we dare to say enough, we are lectured about the importance of civility. We are told to stay calm and vote as an outlet for our anger.

Incivility runs through the history of this country, founded on stolen land, built with the labor of stolen lives. The document that governs our lives effectively denied more than half of the population the right to vote. It counted only three-fifths of the enslaved population when determining representation. If you want to talk about incivility, let us be clear about how deep those roots reach.

The United States has become ungovernable not because of political differences or protest or a lack of civility but because this is a country unwilling to protect and care for its citizens — its women, its racial minorities and especially its children.

*snip*