by Rosemary Rivera, Organizing Director
The tragedy that occurred this past Saturday in Arizona left me dumbfounded but not surprised.
Last summer, I worked in Florida on the health care campaign and came face to face with people who did not want to listen to reason or facts. They simply were angry, and I interpreted it as racial tension because we had elected the first black president. To the point, violence erupted at a town hall meeting in Ygbor, and people I dispatched to talk about health care reform in shops were also met with violence. In one instance, I remember running away from a woman who I tried to have a conversation with concerning the public option. She became so hateful that I swore I saw froth coming out of the side of her mouth. No possibility for disagreement and intelligent debate. Instead, I experienced plain unabashed hatred in a very personal way.
I came back to New York wondering how in the world we were going to be able to organize people who just wouldn’t listen to reason and were led by hatred. The key word is that they were led. As a grassroots person, I know that I turn to trusted sources, and in a sense, they lead and shape my thinking. The same applies to people–good people–who are misled by rhetoric that steers them in a direction where they feel that an injustice has been committed against them and that their only recourse is violence. We hold role models in this country responsible for their behavior because we KNOW, for example, that the athlete who does drugs could have an effect on the child that looks up to him. With great power comes great responsibility….unless you’re a politician?
Then last night I hear Fox News repeatedly stating that Sarah Palin and her crosshairs were not responsible for the tragedy in Arizona. I found that to be ludicrous. It is a fact that rhetoric can bring about the worst in a person. Words are very powerful and can inspire us, move us to action—or move us to complete chaos. The health care debate in this country brought about emotions I had never before witnessed.
As an organizer, I repeatedly try to get people to become more civically engaged. A tragedy like this just makes organizing that much harder. I can’t stop thinking of the nine year old girl who was killed as she went to see her Congresswoman. I can’t help but to think about the pastor who now wants to picket the girl’s funeral because he believes the killings were right. He is LEADING people to think this massacre was just, and his actions continue the violence to plague our country.
I feel very blessed to live in a progressive state like New York. However, I don’t want to minimize or dismiss the tragedy that occurred in Arizona as something that just affects those down South. We are one nation after all. But it does say to me that we have a long way to go and many miles before we sleep.
