Eaton Hamilton

I am not a fan of author Lionel Shriver’s grim and condescending attitude toward other writers, whom she dismisses for their concerns about appropriation, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t recommend her masterpiece “We Need to Talk About Kevin” a novel told from the multiple perspectives of the family of a school murderer as the go-to read for understanding mass murder. (There was a movie, but it was ghastly.)

I was touched by the President and First Lady visiting the makeshift monument set up in Uvalde. I thought about what it would have been like if the person in charge had been the former guy, instead. Well, we know, don’t we, from the NRA convention this week where he appeared, saying nothing at all about the 19 kids who died, the teachers who were slaughtered, the many, many injured people (38 were shot), or the vast problem of gun ownership and the second amendment in the USA.

I don’t live in the US, but I used to. Did you know there’s no other country in the world that lets these kind of mass murders transpire? “The USA has had 2,032 school shootings since 1970.” Just by way of example, Canada has had two. Do I feel smug, safe, superior? Not at all, because we see mass murders here too, and conservative govts uniquely try to curtail gun restrictions in Canada. But, but … no right to bear arms exists, thank gawd.

I mourn the people killed in Buffalo, near where I grew up. I mourn the people killed in Uvalde. My heart goes out to loved ones. The revolting, cowardly (and racist?) behaviour of the police in Uvalde will never stop hurting. What parent can’t imagine themselves being harassed, tazed, handcuffed and prevented from trying to save your child?

Here are their names. Honour our babies. Say them aloud.

The victims:

Makenna Lee Elrod, 10

Layla Salazar, 11

Maranda Mathis, 11

Nevaeh Bravo, 10

Jose Manuel Flores, Jr, 10

Xavier Lopez, 10

Tess Marie Mata, 10

Rojelio Torres, 10

Eliahna Amyah Garcia, 9

Eliahna A Torres, 10

Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

Jackie Cazares, 9

Uziyah Garcia

Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10

Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

Amerie Jo Garza, 10

Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10

Alithia Ramirez, 10

Irma Garcia, 48

Eva Mireles, 44