WASHINGTON (CNS) — Three mass shooting incidents in the United States in the span of a week are now showing that "their emotional impact is resonating, understandably, across the nation," said Bishop Shelton J. Fabre of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. "The effects of the evil and sin, we are all impacted by it."
Bishop Fabre said many people think of racism of being a matter for blacks and whites, "but I think there are many, many faces to racism, so I think it resonates with the pastoral letter," assembled by his committee and approved by the bishops last year, "when we say that this evil affects everyone, and all communities are affected by racism."
The deadliest of the three shootings took place Aug. 3 in El Paso, Texas, where accused gunman Patrick Crusius opened fire at a Walmart store in the city, with 22 dead and dozens more wounded. Many of the victims were Hispanic. Crusius had posted a manifesto -- some called it a screed -- online against an "invasion" of the United States by Hispanics.
Less than 24 hours after the El Paso shooting, a gunman shot nine people dead, including his own sister, at a nightclub in Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 4 before police gunned him down. On July 28, a gunman killed three people at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, before taking his own life. At least 15 others were injured.
“Hispanics have been referred to by countless derogatory names, have encountered negative assumptions made about them because of their ethnicity.”
The pastoral letter, "Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love -- A Pastoral Letter Against Racism," included separate sections detailing racist treatment directed at African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans.
"Many groups are still experiencing prejudice," Hispanics among them, the pastoral says. "Hispanics have been referred to by countless derogatory names, have encountered negative assumptions made about them because of their ethnicity, have suffered discrimination in applying for college, for housing, and in registering to vote."
It adds, "Many people of Hispanic heritage come from families that were in this land long before the borders changed."
The pastoral notes, "Participating in or fostering organizations that are built on racist ideology -- for instance, neo-Nazi movements and the Ku Klux Klan -- is also sinful; they corrupt individuals and corrode communities. None of these organizations have a place in a just society."
In addressing racism, "to press forward without fear means 'to walk humbly with God' in rebuilding our relationships, healing our communities, and working to shape our policies and institutions toward the good of all, as missionary disciples," the pastoral says.
“I don’t understand assault weapons. The bishops have stood against assault weapons, banning all assault weapons. They don't have any hunting purpose. They just have one purpose. That is to kill.”
Asked about the prevalence of guns in American society, Bishop Fabre said, "I am a bishop in Louisiana," adding with a chuckle, "where hunting is a sportsman's paradise," but "I don't understand assault weapons. The (U.S.) bishops have stood against assault weapons, banning all assault weapons. They don't have any hunting purpose. They just have one purpose. That is to kill."
"I know people who hunt," Bishop Fabre said, "but I don't know anyone who uses an assault weapon."
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Two days before the El Paso shooting, Bishop Fabre and two other U.S. bishops issued a joint statement chiding the "divisive and disrespectful" language of President Donald Trump's denigration of Baltimore -- where Bishop Fabre had conducted a listening session in May on racism in the church -- in a series of tweets that others had condemned as racist.
"Social media is used to fire things off without reflection or without conversation. I don't necessarily like that, and I think most people would say they don't like that," Bishop Fabre said in an Aug. 7 telephone interview with Catholic News Service.
"I don't think Twitter is the best way to fire off things, 134 characters or whatever it is, that deserve substantive ongoing discussions and conversation," Bishop Fabre said. "I would hate to limit interaction on very important conversations. It has its place, but I am a believer in conversation and dialogue, and that takes time."
Referring again to the Baltimore listening session -- one in an ongoing series of listening sessions that started before the pastoral letter was approved -- Bishop Fabre said those who have shared their experiences of racism and listened to those stories are "building bridges" to counteract racism. "We have many, many challenges and many, many struggles, but I don't think that hope is lifted up enough," he added.
"I think that healing can continue form the encounter that has begun in the listening session. That is where I see hope myself," he added. "I have seen it, I have experienced it, and I just know that there are people who are doing wonderful things out there who aren't getting recognition for what they've accomplished."
"If we have the kind of substantive discussions and encounters that we need to have," Bishop Fabre said, "headlines that we see today will be a thing of the past."
Words still do have meaning. You cannot arbitrarily redefine them to suit your purposes. In what way did the Dayton shooting demonstrate racism? It was obviously a terribly evil act. But what has been reported that would suggest it was about race?
Another claim of racism without proof that racism is a problem. Recent study show racist attitudes down since Trump elected.
"Many people of Hispanic heritage come from families that were in this land long before the borders changed" - Bishop Fabre
Irony - "the idea of deporting or murdering all non-white Americans is horrific. Many have been here at least as long as the whites, and have done as much to build our country" - The El Paso murderer - who was very screwed up but said non whites were an important part of building the country, so what was the motivation of this very twisted individual?
I am afraid that every article that blames racism only increases racism. The only solution is to stop defining people by race, stop counting by race, stop obsessing about race.
We have had 4 "mass" killings in 10 days (defined as 4 dead), but only 1 with a clear racist motive, 1 with a knife, 1 a Hispanic killing Hispanics, 1 a Socialist/Atheist & Warren supporter. All were young men (19, 21, 24, 33). Surprisingly to some, none claimed Trump as their inspiration and all 4 seem anti-Republican. Why did people think to express their hate with violence? Racism alone doesn’t explain this. Guns alone don’t either.
I think it relates to Social media’s power to amplify discord, coupled with isolated/alienated young men who have lost their religious moorings and become enamored with violence through video games and movies that increasingly glorify violence (every Quentin Tarantino movie). But, it also comes from politicians that stoke the fires of racism, Trump and his opponents who are forever defining everything in race terms.
In particular, all sides, including Trump, this bishop, Democrats and the media need to tone down the rhetoric about race. Anybody who insists on categorizing and disparaging people by race is part of the problem, whether immigrants, black-only lives matter groups, reparations talk, etc. But, those who insist on disparaging whites as racist, not-people-of-color, as if they were a single ethnic group, using racist terms like white privilege or even white supremacy (for people who actually don't hold such ideologies) are also fanning the flames, and that includes most of the Democrat candidates and especially the media. Calling Trump (or his voters) racist might make one feel good but it certainly doesn't help reduce violence and increase unity. Less racism, all around, please.
Here are the 4 killings in 10 days (mass killing is defined as 4 fatalities).
- Aug 7 in Orange County, CA: 4 dead, 2 injured in knife attack, all victims and the perpetrator were Hispanic, a 33 yo man, captured alive by police.
- Aug 4 in Dayton, OH: 10 killed, 14 injured, including sister by 24yo man with a semi-automatic rifle who was a self-declared socialist/atheist, hated Christians and a supporter of Elizabeth Warren and Antifa), blessedly stopped from killing many more by gun-toting police.
- Aug 3 in El Paso, TX: 22 dead, 24 injured by 21yo. man with a semi-automatic gun who had a paranoia about replacement from non-whites like the Australian killer of Muslim immigrants in New Zealand), captured alive by police.
- Jul 28 in Gilroy, CA: 4 dead, 13 injuries by 19yo man of Iranian-Italian descent with a semi-automatic gun, who had a history of violent ideologies against religious & government organizations, Republicans and Democrats. Stopped by gun-toting police within a minute.
Thank you for your well reasoned, thoughtful comments. We need more light and less heat about the serious problems facing our society. Toning down the rhetoric is something all of us could and should do.
As to movies that promote violence against one's opponents, Universal Pictures has announced plans to release a new movie Sep-27 that glorifies killing Trump supporters. Called “The Hunt,” is self-described as a satire that portrays an elite group of liberals hunting and slaughtering supporters of the president -- for sport. They are referred to as “deplorables” and wear trucker hats and cowboy shirts (link below). This is in line with Kathy Griffin holding a severed head of Trump and Madonna saying she thought about “blowing up the White House” and Johnny Depp ruminating aloud about presidential assassination.
Gun laws are important to reduce the ability of killers to kill so quickly but Archbishop Chaput is correct when he says gun laws alone are not the solution, as long as we have a more violent irreligious people. The Catholic answer should always be conversion of heart and love of neighbor. Laws on immigration and guns should be pragmatic, not absolutist.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/universal-pulls-hunt-ads-gun-violence-uproar-1230138
Let's wait until the movie comes out. I watched the trailer on IMDB. It does not appear to be a satire. The hunters are rich. The prey look working class. Just like America except the prey, in this case, know the score.
You may be right that the film makers are using the "satire" label to cover the fact that they have violent gun fantasies against Trump and his followers. It is a very sick and twisted concept, no matter their motivations. It will also help Trump politically, as it lends credence to the idea that an unarmed working class could be more vulnerable to violent attacks from their political foes.
Here you go... https://youtu.be/ivbd_pkr1aA
Christopher - thanks for the link. A great summary of what is going on - Liberal media and their Democrat allies stoking racism and violence all the while they are saying it's the other guy. I actually think they don't realize what they are doing and are blind to it. Reza Aslan is some piece of work - the same guy who wanted to punch the Covington Catholic kid and Dinesh D'Souza.
In 1940 South Africa, all blacks had been disenfranchised. Kentucky has disenfranchised more than a quarter of its black population.
Following the Natives Land Act of 1913 and other legislation, South African wages fell, and in 1961 were less than those of 1911. South Africa became the most unequal country over that period. U.S. wages have stagnated forty years and the minimum wage runs a third less than in 1968. Three Americans have as much wealth as the bottom half of the U.S.
From 1926 until the 1980s, South African blacks were banned from skilled jobs. Trump’s “skilled minority” bash list includes: Obama, AOC, Omar, Cummings, Lebron James, Don Lemon, etc.
MAGA or American Apartheid?
The claim that racism is not a problem seems to mirror the talking points of right wing politicians and right wing junk media house such as Fox News. For example, Tucker Carlson of Fox News said that racist White Supremacy and White Nationalist ideology is not a problem, that it is a hoax. However, the data from the country's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under a director -Mr. Christopher Wray who is appointed by Mr. Trump, a deep rooted right wing politician (but who slyly masquerades as a so-called "outsider", and just a business man) contradict the claim of the right wing junk media-Fox News.
Racism is a tool of a race supremacist ideology. When Tucker Carlson of the right wing garbage called Fox News said White Supremacy and White Nationalist ideology is not a problem, logically he is saying that racism is not a problem. To claim that racism is not a problem and to inject that view into the discourse in a respectable Christian journal like America Magazine is to mirror and parrot the view and talking point of right wing ideology, right wing junk media like Fox News. Readers need to be aware where the claim that racism is not a problem is coming from. It is a talking point of Mr. Trump, members of his right wing base and right wing junk media house such as Fox News.
Some posts are deliberately injected into the discourse to divert. Don't take the bait and be drawn into diversion. Stay focused on your own point and the essay itself. So, be vigilant and do not be diverted by rightwing talking points which are often masqueraded and screened. Our living God is on the throne, He-God, is in control, but be vigilant so that you are not diverted from the main problem under discourse-racism. God Bless.
Adeolu - no one is saying that racism is not a problem. What they are saying is that the best way to reduce racism is to accept Martin Luther King Jr. ideal of NOT judging people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character and applying it consistently. Anyone who judges a person for being white (using terms like white privilege) or black (like black lives matter) or advocates counting people by race, or having race-based testing for benefits (like race-based affirmative action, exclusionary schools or graduations, and especially reparations) is departing from MLKs ideal (full quote below), and is perpetuating racism and sowing discord in our society. Rich media folk and politicians across the spectrum are just as responsible for this as hucksters like Al Sharpton, who for some strange reason is given a complete pass by the left for his racism. Movies like Get Out, Pulp Fiction and the new The Hunt all have violent racist motives, even if they are more subtle than the 1915 Birth of a Nation.
Adeolu - using language like "garbage" for political opponents or misrepresenting Tucker (he certainly does not say white supremacist ideology is not a problem or is a hoax, just disagrees with its scope or relationship to certain events) is not respectful of the truth or our living God. Please reconsider MLK's ideal as the better way forward for our society.
From MLK's Dear speech Aug 28, 1963: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character."
"Many people of Hispanic heritage come from families that were in this land long before the borders changed." When the USA started the Mexican-American war to annex Texas as a slave state, the infamous bigot John C. Calhoun rose in the Senate to advise Polk to oppose the annexation of any other part of Mexico into the USA because he opposed brown people contaminating the white USA.
I remember when segregation was legal and supporters of it said it was not racist. The new racism is the denial that there is racism.
Those who-in order to divert, sell dummies and confuse - pick and echo the talking points of right wing politicians and right wing junk and garbage media such as Fox News and Breitbart and deny that gun violence, racism are problems need to do a re-think. This is because we learned the following this morning after the horrendous racist shooting in EL Paso Texas and the shooting in Dayton, Ohio (police has not disclosed the intention of the Dayton murderer) that in Springfield Missouri that police arrested and detained a man on Thursday -August 8, 2019- at the city's Walmart. The man was armed with a rifle and wore body armor. The police discovered 100 rounds of ammunition on this man.
Here is quoting the report especially the statement on this issue from the Springfield Missouri Police spokesperson:
Lt. Mike Lucas of the Springfield Police Department said : "All we know is the fact that he (the arrested man) walked in here (the Walmart in Springfield, Missouri) heavily armed, with body armor on, and military fatigues on, and caused a great amount of panic inside the store,"
Lt Mike Lucas of police department Springfield, Missouri added: "He -the arrested and detained gun man- certainly had the capability and potential to harm people."
Lt. Lucas continued: "His -the gunman- intent was not to cause comfort or peace to anybody that was in the business here. In fact, he’s lucky to be alive still, to be honest".
Those who (in order to divert, deflect and intentionally confuse people) serve as the echo chamber of right wing politicians and right wing junk and garbage media such as Fox News and Breitbart to deny that gun violence is a problem, to deny that racism is a problem need to do a re-think if they have a Christian conscience. May God bless them as they grapple with their conscience.
Shooting show there are crazy people out there and you should stop throwing that descriptive around indiscriminately for political purposes. I’ll bet money the Bishop did not read the shooters manifesto because if he had he would have known the El Paso shooters statement was a disjointed mess with both far left and right politically fringe ramblings, the shooter was deranged. He named his manifesto “The inconvenient truth” . He claimed to be an environmentalist who’s main target wasn’t racism but overpopulation. Does that mean you can blame Al Gore for the shooting? It’s shameful that people will politicize the blood of martyrs.
I know that those who claim the El Paso domestic terrorist is deranged are only trying to divert our attention. So readers should not fall for that diversion. It is a method they have copied from the racist god father-who tweets garbage and nonsense in order to divert.
Those who claim that the El Paso, Texas domestic terrorist, murderer and racist is deranged should do certain things. First, check the language of invasion of the racist god father. Second, check the racist language of the racist god father when he said four American Congress women should be sent back to where they came from. Third, check the racist language of the audience of the racist god father when they chanted back to the racist god father that those the racist god father described as invaders should be shot. Fourth, check the racist language of the audience of the racist god father when they chanted "send them back" to the racist god father in their rally.
Those the racist god father and his audience want to be sent back are Americans. They are four American Congress women who do not look like the racist god father and his audience-which means that this is the reason the racist god father and his audience said that they should be sent back to where they came from. Finally, please check the racist language of invasion of the El Paso Texas domestic terrorist. The language of the El Paso racist, domestic terrorist and shooter is the same language of invasion of the racist god father and his audience.
To put this on record, the racist god father and his campaign has not removed this language of invasion from the election campaign of the racist god father. Why? The answer is simple. The racist god father knows that he can never win the popular votes in 2020 because of the goodness of Americans. So his focus in 2020 is on the electoral college. Division and fear mongering are part of the campaign strategies to eke out an electoral college outcome favorable to him-the racist god father.
Conclusion:
So if both the shooter and the racist god father and his audience share the same racist language, how can anyone claim that the EL Paso Texas, domestic terrorist and racist is deranged? May God bless the conscience of those who continue to make this dubious and dishonest claim, a claim they intentionally make in order to divert our attention from the evil of racism. Readers should not be diverted. Stay focused on the evil of racism and let us solve it together. God Bless.
...and let’s not mention the social media statements made by the Dayton shooter, that too is a diversion?
It is evil and a diversion copied from the garbage tweets of the racist god father play book to claim that the racists and domestic terrorists who kill those who do not racially look like them are mentally deranged. They are not mentally deranged. They are racists and they are enabled and powered by their bigotry, hatred and other racists. They murder intentionally, and they can rationally explain their evil and murderous actions because they study their racist god father's agenda and follow through.
It is an evil and a diversion copied from the dubious play book of the racist god father to claim that those who murder those who do not look like them are influenced by video games. As a Christian I have the spiritual and religious obligation to expose evil, racists, and the evil of racism. May God Bless you.
Do you ever leave open the possibility that you might be wrong? As a Christian you are not supposed to pass judgment on others for that very reason.
If you read what both of these shooters we’re putting out there you will see where their ideas converge, it’s in the outer fringe of environmental movement, much of which is in the Green New Deal which they both reference and support. Just saying...
The racist god father said this about four American Congress women who, racially and ethnically do not look him. Though the racist god father's paternal parents are from Germany, and his maternal parents are from Scotland, and his latest wife is a new immigrant from Slovenia, the racist god father tweeted that they-the four American Congress women who do not racially look like him should be sent back to where they came from. That is classic racism. It is the classic definition of bigotry, racism and xenophobia. The racist god father then organized a rally and his audience echoed him. They shouted "send them back". The "them" are Americans. They are four American Congress women. Interestingly and ironically, the presence of the parents and ancestors of one of the Congress women predated the presence of the parents and ancestors of the racist god father in the United States of America, yet the racist god father tweeted "send her back" to where she came from because the Congress woman does not racially look like the racist god father!
The racist god father said those who do not look like him are invaders, rats, rodents, vermin who live in cities no human being will want to live. This means that these people who do not look like the racist god father are sub humans. The racist god father then organized another "mega rally" And the audience in that rally shouted "shoot the invaders." And the racist god father grinned satisfactorily in acknowledgement.
In El Paso, Texas, the domestic terrorist called his victims invaders-exactly what the racist god father and his audience called them. The victims of the domestic terrorist do not look like the terrorist, the racist god father and members of the racist god father's audience. This means that the domestic terrorist in EL Paso, Texas INTENTIONALLY killed those who do not look like him.
It is evil to kill. It is evil and racist to kill those who do not look like you. It is evil and a diversion to ignore this. I do not know if you are a Christian. If you are a Christian and you have a Christian conscience, you have the religious and spiritual obligation to oppose evil, racists, and the evil of racism. However, you have the freedom to look the other way when evil occurs, when racism occurs, at least there are many Christians who with eyes wide open VOTED for racism and racists, and will do so again. It is their constitutional right. But that does not make racism less evil. May God bless your soul and your conscience.
Christopher
You simply do not understand:
“ :Adeolu Ademoyo speaks only to J Jones and J. Jones claims she only speaks to and for God”
You interrupt them and you pay the price.
And Stuart Meisenzahl imagines speaking to rightwing Fox News/Breitbart/OAN audience and imagines writing for and posting in rightwing propaganda sheets and machines such as Fox News, Breitbart, OAN when Stuart Meisenzahl writes and posts-right?
El Paso strong? Absolutely. El Paso’s 1965-66 Texas Western Miners started five black players for the first time in NCAA Championship history, winning the national title with a 72–65 victory over Kentucky, coached by Adolph Rupp.
The President is no Coach Haskins.