The view from a bloody border town
Our poor peaceful little town of El Paso is now bathed in blood and we've joined the ranks of so many other sad communities in our country. We are seething and mourning and dumbstruck by the idea of a white racist young man driving all the way from Dallas to gun down "Mexicans" in one of our busiest Walmarts.
Many have inquired to see if we are alright, and some were convinced it must be one of those "terrorists" crossing our border. Sadly, this town is now known for having children in cages and scary immigrants crawling over the wall with "knives in their teeth". And now we will be known as the place where another hateful, cowardly, asshole with a gun murdered people.
I went with my daughter to donate blood and there must have been 700 people in line. We will donate later this week. The outpouring was uplifting and that is the El Paso that I've known and loved for nearly 25 years. Apparently, thousands have shown up to donate blood.
I tell lots of people that one of the secrets to this place is the fact that I, a white man, am a minority here. El Paso is a warm and welcoming place. If you drive by on I-10 it may look like another rusty, dusty, border town. But lift up the carpet and take a look around and you'll find a lot of soul and beauty here.
The news is saying that El Paso and Juarez are both lungs in the same body. Nobody and I mean nobody says that shit about our cities. In fact, many say it's one big city separated by a border, and more recently, by a wall.
We are a racist country. We do separate children from parents - through slavery, Indian shcools, poor houses and orphanages and now border refugees. And we do nothing when gun nuts explode in our midst with their hatred, racism, fear, and complete lack of concern. The fact that it came home to our El Paso today, makes it very difficult to digest.
And at the end of it all, we again ask the same tired question: Why?
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we'll never know. i only believe this after agonizing for months and years over why it was my daughter who was killed. at the end of the day all i could come up with was why not her.
but there was a smaller straightforward why (she was run over by a drunk who was in a rage and drove on the wrong side of the road to kill her), and i think there is here too. Republicans. Racism. Trump, Trump, Trump. The NRA. Right wing media (I think of Rwanda often these days).
our country is truly sick. this radicalized sicko decided it would be good to take a big gun to a crowded place and murder a bunch of innocent people, and he's not exceptional. he's young, white, and male, and he's been radicalized.
I'm so sorry. I've heard so much that is so good about El Paso! I know the person who did this isn't from there so maybe that is some comfort to you. But we're all Americans and we're all humans.
