An American myth of freedom

7 children in America are killed by guns every day. Fact.

This is the ‘white noise’ in American news left unreported, and Gary Younge’s book, Another day in the death of America, takes just one of these many days, 23^rd November 2013.On that day ten children and teenagers were shot dead.

Younge makes it very clear - and does so especially to American audiences - that this book is not about gun control; it’s about what happens when there is no gun control in place. And in no other country would this book be possible.

When speaking to the families of these kids Gary Younge began by asking them “What is this about?”.  An open-ended question. And nobody mentioned guns. The notion of not having a gun within American society, to them, was unfathomable.

Younge then spoke on how every country has its own personal myths, and America’s is their view on freedom. Younge revealed he had once been told that, “You do not understand it because you are not free.” In the eyes of pro-gun Americans not having a gun not being free.

Younge’s analogy for how he believes that guns are not the initial problem was intriguing. The gun is only the spark residing on top of a huge pile of tinder. Beneath it lies poverty, racism and inequality. You add the gun on top and you finally see what happens.

The problem of firearms is therefore much deeper than Americans and the rest of the world would like to believe.

 

L.A. Smith

Every day in America ...

“Every day in America, on average, seven children and teens are shot dead.” This was one of many notable statements by award-wining journalist Gary Younge, who gave us an insightful view into the shooting culture in America.

His book, Another day in the death of America is not, as he says, about “gun control” but about a country where there is no gun control. Gary picked a random day (23/11/2013) and researched the deaths by shootings on that day. He discovered there had been 10 people aged between 9 and 19 shot dead on that day.

Gary’s research into the gun-related mentality of some American people provided captivating points, as when he quoted a victim’s parent saying “You aren’t doing your job as a black father in this city if you don’t think your child is going to be shot.”

Gary’s view on guns not being the whole picture is something I had not previously thought about. “The gun is the spark on top of a big pile of tinder" said Gary, pointing to "the racism, the inequality”. This was very thought-provoking; it hadn't occurred to me that the actual issue is the social divide in American society and that this needs to change for there to be real progress.

During questions at the end Gary made his feelings regarding armed guard and teachers at school known, “the answer to people getting shot is not more guns," he told us.

Read more about his book.

 

M.J.Dickinson