Journalist Gary Younge's Cultural
Exchanges audience were a mix of nodding heads, contemplative “hmm”s and, to my
pleasant surprise, laughter.
Whilst casually sipping hot honey and lemon, Younge delivered a talk based on his book, Another Day in the Death of America,
in which he researched into the deaths of children and teenagers who had
been killed by guns on one randomly selected day: Saturday, 23rd
November 2013.
I was
drawn to Younge's talk due to its current relevance and my own desire
to learn more about the issue of gun control in America. But Younge
addressed this “timeliness” that had been attributed to his book
very early on in his speech.
“This
is never not timely.”
These
words struck me in particular. There were many other instances in which I felt appalled by my own
ignorance. But as a speaker, Younge did not just deliver his haunting
statistics and leave it at that.
He –
while still handling the subject sensitively – brought a dry humour
to the event that I had not expected. His anecdotes about NRA rallies
and dinners with Republicans were in equal parts funny and alarming,
and he engaged readily with the audience's questions towards the end.
At the
end of the talk, people were eagerly lining up for book signings. The impact was clear; Younge had
offered us an insight into a world so foreign to our own, and yet one so
important for us to learn about.
Interested? Purchase
his book here
Araminta Jürgen-Romrig
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