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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesTake a Stand Against Senseless Violence ... Now!

Take a Stand Against Senseless Violence … Now!

Although our hearts are broken tonight by the loss of another innocent child through the insanity of wanton gunplay, we cannot afford to be numb over this.
We have to cry and beat our breasts along with the family and friends of 14-year-old Lizmarie Perez Chapparro, who died today on our watch.
We must wail at such pain and insanity, at such Godlessness.
Weep.
And then dry your eyes and do something.
Call the senators who would stall a bill that would confer peace officer status to federal agents in our territory thus keeping their assistance at bay. Tell them to bring that bill back to the floor and pass it if they want to be re-elected.
And while you are at it, tell them you want money appropriated and allotted for programs such as My Brother’s Workshop, which has displayed great success in pulling some of our lost young men off the streets and into useful training and apprenticeships. There are 200 men who need your help on the waiting list for that program alone.
Hire these young men for the next construction job you have. Tell the governor or Public Works commissioner you want them hired for the next public construction job.
Go to any public elementary school in the territory and read to a classroom of youngsters who may have no one else who does that for them. Take a few of them home for dinner, or to a movie or ball game, or the beach or a library.
Give a second chance to someone whose life you may change by doing so.
Raise hell with the airlines and TSA who refuse to tell us who is bringing the guns into the territory. Raise hell with those who nay say the idea of gun control in this fallen paradise.
Turn somebody in to the police who you know is running illegal activities…and then wail again.
Cry for Lizmarie’s parents.
Cry for the life she no longer has.
Scream out loud with outrage. But don’t assign blame unless you have taken one of the above actions or something like it.
This is a societal problem. If you are part of society, you need to do something other than complain and blame.
And while you decide what positive action you will take to make the change you want to see, feel the pain and weep.

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