Hate is real and Discrimination is alive

As Americans we have the right to feel anyway we want about things we don’t agree with. That being said, the key word there is feel.
Not act.
This morning we wake up to the horrible news that someone has done just that in Orlando.
A man, Omar Mateen, decided that he would enter a known LGBQT club on Latin night packed with 320 people who were looking to have a good time. At 2 p.m. he walked in and opened fire on the attendees with AR-15 eventually taking 30 people hostage.
A total of 50 people are reported dead and 53 others injured.
We can say what we want.
It can be called “domestic terrorism”, it can be called a “hate crime”, it can be called an assault of free will.
We don’t know why he did it despite his father saying that he was angry about seeing two men kiss.
I, for one, don’t care what his reasoning is for this senseless act of violence. I do care that we have become so desensitized to mass shooting that the world barely pauses.
I do care that, as the political season has showed us, there are Americans who hate, despise and loath other Americans.
So much so that they attack others who don’t believe or act as they believe they should.
Descendants of so many who came to America looking for a place to practice free will, free speech and democracy.
Ironic isn’t it?
Imagine what would happen if the same energy put into hating and discriminating against different groups of people was applied to the issues that plague America the most.
Like poverty.
Like food deserts.
Like educational disparities.
Like the unemployment rate.
Like health care disparities.
I could go on and on but you get my point. If that negative energy was put into something positive, America would be a better place.
At what point do we begin to question our policies (both institutionalized and systematic) and laws that continually allow Americans to be killed? Even by other Americans.
Without changing these I believe we’re sending a message to the rest of the world that we as Americans don’t even value each other.
We’ll send troops overseas when those from another country attack Americans. When an American attacks other American’s we spend weeks talking about what to do about it, never really getting down to the root of the problem.
The hate is real. It’s time to stop ignoring it and start rectifying the issues we have right here at home.
I’m Just Saying.