On the moments in
which great tragedy turns to powerful activism.
Earlier this
year, I
blogged about the Trayvon Martin shooting, and more exactly about the
American narratives and realities of race to which that shooting connected. Preparations
for the 2013 trial of Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, are underway in
Florida, and so many
of those narratives and realities have returned to the conversations and
debates surrounding Zimmerman’s actions, Martin’s death, the media coverage
in the aftermath, and more. Yet amid all those narratives and debates, and even
amid the (what I hope are) more measured analyses such as those I offered in my
initial post, it can be easy to lose sight of the case’s two simplest and most
profound truths: the inarguable tragedy of Martin’s death, and of the death of
any 17 year old; and what such a tragic loss means to those who knew and loved
Martin, his parents most especially.
Moreover, if we can
focus on that tragedy and on Martin’s parents, we will do more than do justice
to those horrors: we will be able to see how they are working to turn tragedy
into activism, to respond to their loss not only with the inevitable grief and
anger but with impassioned efforts to make the nation and world a better place.
His parents have focused those efforts on the
so-called Stand Your Ground Laws (also known as the Castle Doctrine), the
laws that have been passed in more than twenty states over the last few years
and that allow armed Americans to shoot and kill their fellow citizens in increasingly
broadly defined situations of “self-defense” and thus avoid criminal charges or
prosecution. Whether or not Zimmerman’s actions fell under Florida’s such law
is an open question, and one on which his trial will certainly hinge; but
Trayvon’s parents have not in any case limited their efforts to that question
and case, choosing instead to
challenge the legality and rationality of the laws throughout the nation. Whatever
your position on the laws, I believe those efforts, to seek what his parents call
“change for Trayvon,” embody the
best kind of response to such an unthinkable loss and tragedy.
In responding in
that impressive way, Martin’s parents join a list of Americans who have done
the same, turning tragedy into inspiring activism. Near the top of that list,
for me, would be Jim and
Sue Brady; Jim was the Reagan Press Secretary who was seriously wounded in and
permanently disabled by the 1981
John Hinckley assassination attempt on the president, and in the years
after that shooting, both Jim and Sue became vocal and committed activists for
gun control and reform. Those efforts, which became known as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
and led to the passage
of the 1993 Brady Bill, are of course as controversial and open to debate
as any gun control measures, or any social and political activism at all for
that matter. But I would hope, again, that all Americans and people, regardless
of our positions on particular issues, can be inspired by Jim and Sue Brady,
and by the way in which they responded to a great and defining tragedy with
lifelong activism, not so much for themselves (no gun control legislation will
change what happened to Jim nor ameliorate his present situation in any way)
but for all their fellow Americans.
Next inspiring
response to adversity tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Powerful responses to adversity you’d highlight?
10/23 Memory Day nominee: Johnny Carson, who redefined a
television genre but whose influence on 20th
century American culture and society went far beyond just late nights.
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