Guns, Gaza, and the Hypocrisy Killing Our Children
From Minnesota to Palestine, a reminder that the children are ours, all of them, because that is what morality requires of us
The horrific shooting at a Catholic school in Minnesota is yet another reminder of a truth too many politicians want us to forget: since 1999, Americans have endured 2,000+ shootings in houses of worship. Yes, two thousand plus. Meanwhile, as the UN declares famine in Gaza, Palestinian children are suffering the worst brunt of this genocide.
There’s a connection between both of these atrocities that most in corporate media are wholly ignoring, but one we cannot dismiss. It’s a connection that strikes to the core of who we are as human beings. Let’s Address This.
Making Thoughts and Prayers A Mockery
Every time another mass shooting devastates a community, MAGA extremists trot out two lame statements. The first is “thoughts and prayers.” As someone who believes in God, let me be the first to say—repeating this statement without changing behaviors is an insult to God and to our intellect. Faith without works is dead, and our children are literally dying because politicians won’t do the work to protect them.
The second statement from MAGA extremists claims these shootings happen, “Because we’ve taken God out of schools.” Here’s the thing. Two innocent children are dead. Dozens more are injured. Thousands of people are grieving. And none of that is because “God was taken out of schools.” All of it is because the gun lobby and the NRA stuff MAGA coffers with blood money to convince them to choose profits over children’s lives. Guns are the number one killer of children in America—and still, Republicans refuse to act.
The Connection to Palestine
If the language above sounds familiar, it should. Because the very same rhetoric Republicans use to block common-sense gun reform is echoed almost word-for-word by corporate Democrats when justifying continued U.S. weapons to Netanyahu’s government—even as it carries out a genocide against Palestinians.
The facts speak for themselves, and do so in complete opposition to what the American people want. Just as more than 90% of Americans want universal background checks but Republicans continue to block it, a staggering 92% of Democrats want the U.S. to stop funding Netanyahu’s military campaign, yet corporate Democrats (and near unanimous MAGA Republicans) continue to arm Netanyahu.
More than 100 international organizations and the United Nations have confirmed that Israel’s blockade is directly causing famine, weaponizing hunger against civilians. At the same time, the global consensus among genocide scholars is that what is happening in Gaza is indeed genocide, no matter how hard political leaders try to dance around the word. Joyce Msuya, the UN’s deputy humanitarian chief, stated that:
Famine has been confirmed in the north-central Gaza governorate, where Gaza City is located, and is expected to spread to Deir el-Balah and Khan Younis to the south by the end of September. “Over half a million people currently face starvation, destitution and death,” Msuya said. “By the end of September, that number could exceed 640,000. Virtually no one in Gaza is untouched by hunger.” She added that at least 132,000 children below the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition, with more than 43,000 of them expected to face life-threatening conditions in the coming months.
And still, the killings mount—Israel recently carried out yet another “double tap” strike, murdering five humanitarian aid workers and at least twenty civilians who had rushed to help. Despite all of this, just this week the Democratic National Committee, under Ken Martin’s leadership, blocked a resolution that simply called for suspending military aid to Israel.
And then, in the midst of all this, the Democratic Party dares to wonder why its approval rating has collapsed to just 26%, the lowest in three decades. The reason is not complicated. It is because of breathtaking cruelty and cowardice—a willingness to condemn violence when it suits their political aims, and a willingness to excuse it when it doesn’t.
A Call to Recognize All Children as Our Own
As James Baldwin reminds us:
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
This is the moral test of our time. Whether in Minnesota or Uvalde, Gaza City or Rafah, Parkland High School or Palestine—the children are ours. All of them.
Just as I will not vote for or support a politician who takes NRA money, I cannot morally support politicians complicit in the genocide in Palestine. It is up to us to demand our public servants serve the public with integrity and with humanity.
Thus, if we are to call ourselves moral, if we are to call ourselves just, then we must demand justice without borders, without exceptions, without hypocrisy. No more excuses. No more cowardice. No more picking and choosing which children deserve to live free from violence. Justice must be demanded globally, period.
I can’t remember where I first heard this quotation, but I always think of it in times like these, “there is no such thing as other people‘s children“. We are all responsible for caring for the generations that come after us.
As an educator, I couldn’t agree more that all children must be our own, everywhere! But you said it better! Shukran.