Many of us are filled with horror, shock, and outrage at the homophobic mass shooting in Orlanda targeting LGBT partiers and allies at the Pulse nightclub. At the same time, many U.S. media outlets, including the New York Times and NPR, are repeatedly saying it’s the worst mass shooting in U.S. History. This is simply not true. We shouldn’t ignore other atrocities in U.S. History when condemning atrocities of the present.
Even if one excludes massacres by the US Army (Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, etc.), the 1853 Yontoket massacre of 400 Yolowa indians might be the worst mass shooting in U.S. history that I know of (see obrag.org/...).
In addition, what is usually called the Tulsa "race riot," of 1921, white racists, while burning down and holding prisoner members of the the African-American community, killed approximately 300 black citizens (see tulsahistory.org/...). There are probably other examples, but these are two that I’m aware of.
Homophobia both is a form of violence and foments violence. Racism is both a form of violence and foments violence. Let’s not ignore either of these aspects of our history. Misogyny, islamophobia, anti-semitism, and all these forms of bigotry all pollute our cultural environments, and are used to goad and incite violence. It is up to all of us to ally for ourselves and with each other to filter out all bigotry (the link takes you to a handout I use in anti-oppression trainings for middle and high school students), and to ally against all forms of bigotry, oppression, and violence.
Sunday, Jun 12, 2016 · 10:08:18 PM +00:00
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samdiener
As I wrote in response to a comment below: I’m surprised and upset that some are reading my diary as to minimize the atrocity committed last night. I’m also not saying one group’s oppression is worse than others. I’m advocating for us to be aware of the suffering of each other, in particular the suffering caused by bigotry and oppression and violence, so that we can build solidarity.
I am saying that the factual claim that last night’s massacre was the largest mass shooting in U.S. history (even excluding the military), is not factually correct. I’ve heard some on the radio call it the largest massacre in U.S. history, which is also not correct (both because of the examples I cited above, but also because the 9/11 attacks, and the Oklahoma City bombing — though they were not shootings — were massacres, and caused more fatalities).
As someone says down below, the shooting last night might be the worst mass shooting by one shooter in U.S. history. And if the NYT and NPR and others were saying it this way, I wouldn’t have written this diary. I didn’t write it to minimize the pain any of us feel in reaction to the horrific shootings last night. I wrote it to widen our focus to include, in our scope of concern, the parallel pain experienced by people who were targeted by bigoted violence in the past. I also believe we might be able to learn from the suffering and resiliency of the survivors of these past horrors, if we’re willing to listen.