I didn't post about this yesterday because by the time I got to posting here yesterday, I was consciously not thinking about it in an attempt to calm down. Because I am usually angry about something, since the world is an unjust place and I wish it weren't, but right now I am so full of rage and hurt that I noticed myself shaking several times throughout the day, that I can only listen to Rage Against the Machine and Gogol Bordello and Eminem's "Not Afraid" because every time I put something calmer on I have to stop myself from throwing my ipod across the room.

Because on Saturday, as I'm sure everyone has heard by now, Democratic Rep. Giffords and at least eight other people were shot in a parking lot in Tuscon, Arizona. Because a nine-year-old girl, who wanted to become a politician to help people less fortunate than her, was killed. Because federal Judge John Roll is also dead.

Because Sarah Palin and other extreme rightwingers had been using violent language, such as "elimination" and shooting-related metaphors in her tweets, and crosshair targets on a graphic of the US on her website, for months, creating a rhetorical political climate of violence and bigotry. (Palin is now eliminating all such content on her twitter, facebook, and site.)

Because Giffords called her on it: "Palin's list has a gun sight over our district. They have to realize there are consequences to that."

Because during his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle.

Because in the responses to this attack, it is repeatedly being called "unfortunate," a "tragedy," and "inexplicable." Because the shooter Jared Loughner is being called a "deranged individual," "mentally unstable," and "psychotic." (Full disclosure: he is schizophrenic.)

Because people with mental illnesses are NO MORE LIKELY to be violent than people without them. In fact, they are more likely to be victims of it than pereptrators.

Because of course he's being classified as a mentally unstable individual, because he's a white American. Therefore he can't possibly be a terrorist, right? Even though terrorism is essentially violence and attacks designed to incite fear and political change. But every person of colour or Muslim person who does such a thing is a terrorist, and representative of all POC/Muslims; every white person is a fringe character.

Because when Giffords voted in favour of the health care bill (which is what the above-mentioned map was about), her office in Tuscon was attacked and vandalised.

Because Judge Roll had previously been threatened due to his ruling that illegal immigrants could sue their employer, making him extremely unpopular with the hyper nationalist movement.

Because Loughner was unstable enough to be cut from the military and suspended from college, but dammit if he couldn't buy himself a semi-automatic gun.

Because Arizona is a hotspot of racism and anger and intolerance that would most definitely skew the beliefs of someone with a mental disorder. (They may not be more violent, but they can be more easily swayed or unhinged.)

Because now people are too busy pointing fingers and assigning blame than trying to group together and work on fixing the issues that lead to this happening.

Because so many people on the left are now using this as a reason to blame Palin and others (and they should be held accountable, yes) while glossing over the very real climate of anti-immigration - which is racism against immigrants but also white supremacy and the militarization of borders, and the policing of them on homes and workplaces and bodies and families - that also contributed to it.

Because when you add all these factors together, this shooting becomes not shocking, but inevitable.

Because, as someone tweeted on Saturday, when a nine-year-old is killed in cold blood, we have all failed.

Because someone retweeted that and added, simply, "Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan." And they're right. Palestine, the US-Mexico border, gang violence, Sudan, Uganda... We have all failed.

A list of smart people who are saying smart things about this:

-Sady Doyle has several posts about it here, and also here
-The majority of Sarah Jaffe's recent posts, but especially this one.
-The Utne Reader
-Professor Juan Cole on white terrorism.
-Obama London: Inexplicable edits on Sarah Palin's Facebook
-Colorlines: The Inherent Self-Destruction of Government-vs-the-People Ideology
-Shakesville: Let's Get This Straight



And because I'd like to end on at least a slightly positive note, I want to tell you about my new hero, Daniel Hernandez, the 20-year-old aid of GIfford's who on Saturday ran towards the gunshots and who is most likely the reason she is still alive - he held her and applied pressure to the entrance wound until paramedics arrived, and then rode with her to the hospital.

"Of course you’re afraid, you just kind of have to do what you can," he said, as well as: "It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help."

This man, you guys. This barely-out-of-his-teens, brown, overweight, openly gay man. This man, whose body has been criminalized in Arizona, who the white right-wing doesn't want there, says has no place, isn't good enough to be there. This hero.