The verdict was read.
First tears, and then he collapsed. Half of the country cheered, and the other half is weeping, again. Still.
The United States, very specifically, breeds a unique brand of systemic and fatal cyclical violence. Young men, across the political, religious and socio-economic spectrums, seem to be lost.
Of the three young men who were shot by Rittenhouse, one was suicidal and one had already been incarcerated for violence. As we all know now, Rittenhouse was using a lethal weapon illegally given to him by an adult. The two people he killed were 36-year-old Joseph Rosenbaum, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and 26-year-old Anthony Huber, of Silver Lake, Wisconsin. Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, was wounded. Rosenbaum, 36, was released the day of the shootings from a Milwaukee hospital where he had been treated for a suicide attempt. Huber had already served a pair of prison stints stemming from family conflict, including the violent choking his own brother in 2012.
3 out of those 4 young men are Lost Boys.
Rittenhouse even claimed while being cross-examined on the stand, that he didn’t know the gun could shoot more than 75 yards. Whether it was a poorly told boyish lie or truly astonishing naivete, in either case that exchange with the prosecutor telegraphed his immaturity, insecurity and rudderless persona. Just a lost boy.
Despite recognizing that Rittenhouse was presenting like an over-rehearsed puppet who had been primed by two mock juries, and that he is the byproduct of irresponsible adults in his sphere, it is extremely difficult to summon intellectual sympathy. Separate from that emotion, however, we know the truth: Hurt people hurt, and trauma begets trauma, especially in young men. If an adult man hands a 8-year-old a mitt or a cello, they will play it. If the adult man hands the same 8-year-old an AR-15 or AK-47, they will play it.
The root causes of violence in the United States are again being exposed by the Rittenhouse case verdict, the ongoing calls by the defense for a mistrial in the current Arbery case, and the endless gun violence throughout our country including an unintentional gun discharge today at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport which caused mass panic among passengers who thought there was a mass murderer using a gun as the weapon of choice in their midst.
In 2014, Georgia supported an NRA-supported "Guns Everywhere" law allowing loaded guns inside of airports. Loaded guns are allowed up to the TSA checkpoint at the Atlanta Airport, just not inside of the TSA area or beyond. TSA agents have netted out more than 4,500 firearms at security checkpoints so far this year, marking a 20-year record.
What is the impact of sustained Vicarious Trauma on Public Health? What is the toll it is taking on Us, as a society?
Long after the verdicts are read, the vigil candles are held and the protests are marched, what happens to the Lost Boys? What becomes of Rittenhouse, or Grosskreutz, who has a penetration wound that will remind him for a lifetime of that one moment, on that one night. It is a wound that has rewired his brain to react to loud noises like a war veteran bio physiologically. “Aggress!” “React!” “Fight!” the neurons now tell him.
What happens? Flip the record, and repeat. Lost Boys.
So, how can business owners, citizens and companies reverse this Public Health crisis with ethical governance and proactive action? Boycotts, divestment, publicly supporting Common Sense Gun Laws, and withholding investment from companies and banks aligned in any way with the Perpetual Warfare and Domestic Militarization economies is a start. And of course, dial into The Southern Poverty Law Center and The Equal Justice Initiative to track and proactively oppose Hate Groups and White Supremacy Organizations across the United States.
I also encourage business owners and citizens to visit the exhibition currently running through February 20, 2022, at The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago called: American Epidemic: Guns in the United States. The show is organized by Karen Irvine, the Chief Curator and Deputy Director of MoCP. Details here>
For those of us who lived through the mass murder at Columbine High School as witnesses and peers, history reminds us that if we do not act, it repeats itself over and over and over again. April 20, 1999 is not a distant or even, faded memory for those of us who witnessed the harm, horror and death unfolding at Columbine. That date is merely a blinding, paralyzing flashbulb. And that flashbulb explodes each and every time another murder, suicide, drive by, or mass murder by gun takes place in our country.
This short film, produced and edited by Dominque Hessert, was originally released in 2019 and captures what the flash looks like in my own mind’s eye.
First tears, and then we collapse.
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From the Editor - Suggested resources for social and legislative change: