The shooting at the Holocaust museum and the recent killing of aborton doctor, Dr. Tiller, raises concerns because they both were acts that were seemingly carried out by a lone wolf emboldened by their anger or hate. As the FBI and DC Police were saying earlier Wednesday morning, they had no prior knowledge of this attack – implying that had it been a part of an organized group or series of orchestrated moves by group the shooter was connected to, it would have been picked up on their radar. This is unnerving and shows us that the acts of the individual are unpredictable and harder to pre-emptively thwart, especially one acting in a fit of passion, hate, and anger. The reaction time of the security forces at the museum saved the thousands of lives there that day and my condolences to the family of the fallen security guard. You cannot know everything in advance, especially when an individual acts alone with no apparent motives.
When I read the first reports, I was just so appalled and taken back by the sheer brazenness of this one gunman. Then my shock turned to frustration: frustration with the fact that anyone could still harbor such stereotyped and bigoted views toward any group of people in this day and age. Frustration that anyone could feel justice in proving the worth of their values by killing another in an act of calculated disdain for that person’s existence. This frustration turns to a revelation: a revelation that just because it is the 21st century does not mean that centuries of bigotry or unequal treatment can be undone by simply passing laws and telling people that is wrong to think that way.
It is why global citizens must believe in the power of progress – because the word almost carries with it built-in hope. Through progress, we know that things today do not have to look that way tomorrow, as long as we continue to push or remain in the fight. It also allows you to look back and see how far you have come, to inspire the fight for where you have to go. So my revelation does not lead to bitterness, or a feeling of powerlessness. Although a neo-Nazi may have stormed the Holocaust museum blinded by hate, I know that we can progress through this gesture of hate.
Progress, by definition, is a steady advancement or improvement toward a goal. Events such as the shooting at the museum today remind us that we have not reached the goal yet, but we are also not where we were as a country 60 years ago. It is why I don’t believe that “somethings about people will never change”. Seeing hate manifest itself this way is upsetting; but we as a people will just have to equip ourselves with tough skin and continue to break down the stereotypes that breeds hate this deep.
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