The War on Women is also a War on Children

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8421-the-suicidal-state-and-the-war-on-youth

Henry Giroux has done it again. He has painfully described what all of us know but don't really know. We go about our business noticing things that disturb us slightly, but we tuck them away until something smacks us in the face like the Trayvon Martin killing. Reading this piece by Giroux can be the most depressing thing you'll do all day. It might make you give up any hope that we humans can pull ourselves back from the edge of the abyss. At the very least, it will make you look up the definition of neoliberalism.

Like you, I see things happening around me or read about them in the news and shake my head in dismay. I've been doing voter registration at a community college and listening to kids in adult bodies describe how hard it is to pay for their classes, find part-time work, feel good about themselves and generally look with confidence to the future. They haven't a clue about the connection between politics and their inability to support themselves. They've been told not to "get involved" in politics because "politicians are all crooks." In a way, they are right, but they are being told that for a reason.

Yesterday, hundreds of people lined the main street going through Pacific to watch a hearse carry the body of a 21 year-old graduate of Pacific High School to a funeral home. The folks waved flags, saluted the procession, and told the TV reporters how proud they are of one of their own. The script reads, "He was protecting our freedom." Freedom to do what? Freedom to believe that he was protecting our freedom? Does that make people feel better about the total waste of a healthy young man's life? When someone dies of an incurable disease, that's one thing, but to send them off to be blown apart for no better reason than to feed the monster of military power is unforgiveable. And we do it every day. My neighbor's son will graduate from the same high school next month and go into the Marines. The Marines have recruiters at his high school telling them how glorious their future will be. The incredibly sad thing is that this healthy young man probably is even more motivated to put himself in harm's way because of the funeral this week. Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?

The NRA convention was in St. Louis this weekend. We see the two-sentence reports in the paper about folks being shot to death and move right along to the sports or business section. Connections? Let's not think about it. After all, the NRA is so powerful that we can't do anything about guns gone wild anyway. Gotta protect our 2nd Amendment rights, right? Forget those lies about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Especially the part about all of our lives being precious.

Giroux has made me step back once again and look closely at the everyday events I witness or read about. I suppose I could just watch celebrity TV, shop till I drop, get my nails done and party with the crowd. But Trayvon Martin's name keeps popping up in my brain. His face in that white hoodie haunts me. Maybe that's a sign that my soul isn't quite dead yet and that I might have a role to play in pulling us all back from the brink of the abyss. Or maybe not.

Susan Cunningham
April 15, 2012