We Still Deserve to Burn in Hell for Uvalde

One year later, we have not atoned for the Massacre in Uvalde. The conditions that caused it to happen has changed. And the moral stench of no accountability and no change gets stronger every day.

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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

         A year ago today, May 24, an 18-year-old gunman, until that morning in compliance with all of Texas’s ultra-permissive gun laws, walked into Ross Elementary School in Uvalde and murdered 19 children and two teachers. Almost 400 law enforcement officers, alerted to the crisis, dawdled for over an hour before a tactical squad burst into the classroom and killed the shooter.

         Here is a photo montage of the 21 people that died that day, followed by their names. Take a moment to look at them.

Students

·       Nevaeh Alyssa Bravo, 10

·       Jacklyn Jaylen Cazares, 9

·       Makenna Lee Elrod, 10

·       Jose Manuel Flores Jr., 10

·       Eliahna Amyah Garcia, 9

·       Uziyah Sergio Garcia, 10

·       Amerie Jo Garza, 10

·       Xavier James Lopez, 10

·       Jayce Carmelo Luevanos, 10

·       Tess Marie Mata, 10

·       Maranda Gail Mathis, 11

·       Alithia Haven Ramirez, 10

·       Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez, 10

·       Maite Yuleana Rodriguez, 10

·       Alexandria Aniyah Rubio, 10

·       Layla Marie Salazar, 11

·       Jailah Nicole Silguero, 10

·       Eliahna Cruz Torres, 10

·       Rojelio Fernandez Torres, 10

Teachers

·       Irma Linda Garcia, 48

·       Eva Mireles, 44

         In the year since, there were predictable thoughts and prayers from the usual political suspects. There was a great deal of harrumphing and clearing of throats by law enforcement officers whose agencies failed to act appropriately, much less courageously. And there has been posturing and playacting by state leaders and legislators whose job is to set policy to keep children safe, lamenting the situation with their words while crushing hope for change under their feet. While we, the people of Texas, sat idly by and also did nothing.

         Last year, I wrote that we – all of us – deserved to burn in hell for the combination of incompetence, cowardice, and corruption that led to Uvalde. Now, a year later, nothing has changed, and a Just God would stoke the fires of Hell even hotter for all of us.

         The pain and anguish of the Uvalde families is like an open wound on the body of Texas. Our collective inaction has caused the wound to fester and suppurate. Uvalde joins other places in Texas – Fort Hood, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe High, the El Paso Walmart, Midland-Odessa, Allen – where the individuals and families who have suffered inconceivable loss are told to get on with their lives because “there’s nothing that can be done.” (Notice the passive voice, so those in charge don’t have to admit it is they who are doing nothing.)  

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         Anyway, who cares? Nothing will change. The two people at the apex of Texas law enforcement – Governor Greg Abbott and DPS chief Steve McCraw – have suffered neither unfavorable performance reviews nor any pangs of conscience over their roles. Abbott was overwhelmingly re-elected as governor six months after the tragedy. His new jam is to blame everything on “mental health,” even though his record of cutting mental health funding is execrable. McCraw, in spite of the demonstrated (and unaddressed) incompetence of DPS officers under his command, is angling to get a new vigilante group from the Legislature to augment his thousands of DPS troops on the border, because we all know that undocumented immigrants are more dangerous than 20-year old incels with access to plenty of firepower.

         Meanwhile, the Legislature has done nothing of substance to reduce the likelihood of mass shootings in schools. And there’s plenty of room for improvement: bans on sales for assault weapons or certain ammunition to people less than 21; red flag laws, which were all the rage a couple sessions ago but have disappeared from the conversation; background checks and/or waiting periods on gun purchases; and so forth.

         (All is not lost, of course: HB 13, to train teachers to pack heat in their classrooms for an extra $25K a year, is awaiting a hearing in a Senate committee. This is what passes for public policy problem-solving in Texas.)

         While the Legislature has been in session this spring, Texas has had 21 mass shootings. None of them happened on school grounds, thank goodness, because that would have been embarrassing – although the parents of the children killed in Cleveland and the victims of the outlet mall shooting in Allen may beg to differ.

         What to do? We don’t need new proposals; there are plenty of good ideas to reduce gun violence floating around. We need a change of heart, and it should start with atonement for Uvalde.

         Atonement. At-one-ment – becoming “at one” with those we have wronged, first by recognizing the pain and injustice that has been inflicted on them, embracing it as our own, and then making amends in such a way as to heal the torn garment of our relationship with them. We must atone to the mothers and fathers and families of Uvalde.

         That begins with recognizing our role in all the death. We must look honestly at ourselves, the policies we embrace and the leaders we elect. Try to find the daylight towards healing and sanity. Maybe we can keep our guns, and still concede that kids 18-20 should not be allowed to purchase assault rifles. Maybe we can live lives free of “Big Government,” and still concede that people who are a danger to themselves or others should be red-flagged and denied easy access to deadly weapons. Maybe we can agree that schools and churches and courthouses and shopping malls should be safe spaces for all.

         The leaders of Texas, charged first and foremost to protect the people, utterly failed the 21 victims of the Uvalde Massacre. Now, a year later, they continue to fail the Uvalde families and their community – and all the people of Texas. And it is up to us to do something about it.

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