We’re traveling and so we recorded a few shows ahead of time. \u00a0So I can’t do anything on the radio about Charleston, and I don’t know that I would or should anyway.<\/p>\n
But I do want to write a little bit here before our day in London starts.<\/p>\n
When a person of color, or a person of a non-Christian faith, does something horrific, the narrative\u00a0is about the group or groups to which they belong. \u00a0And just as often, when a white or (nominally) Christian person does a similar act, the narrative shifts to being about mental illness, and how surprising the act was.<\/p>\n
Of course we have to talk about mental illness, and of course a fully healthy person doesn’t do these things (though lets steer clear of making this yet another chance to stigmatize those with mental illness).<\/p>\n
But we can’t end the conversation there. \u00a0I think we have to think about how children\u00a0are raised — with love or with hate, and with active conversations about race and class and differences and privilege. \u00a0And about guns. \u00a0When those conversations are\u00a0not part of our culture, it’s not at all surprising that these killings keep happening.<\/p>\n
I don’t know anything about the Charleston killer’s childhood beyond what has been reported, and I don’t know if that’s all been accurate. I’m not saying a thing about his parents.<\/p>\n
But I do know that he walked into a place that welcomed him and sat down next to people who were raised to welcome visitors with open arms and open hearts and open minds. \u00a0He at least pretended to pray with these loving people, and then he stood up, looked around at them, these people who had welcomed him and prayed with him, and he shot them to death. \u00a0With a gun given to him by his parents.<\/p>\n