Armed Men in Public Aren’t a Symbol of “Freedom”

They’re proof that 2nd Amendment has got to go

When I saw that people were mounting protests against shelter-in-place restrictions, I thought they were merely selfish and foolish. It took this piece by Pranav Jani to open my eyes: Nation Shrugs as Armed, White Right-Wingers Take Michigan Statehouse.

Seeing a group of hostile white men walking around in public with big guns slung over their shoulders does not make me feel my freedom is being protected. On the contrary — it makes me feel threatened. It puts people in danger. And it illustrates why the 2nd amendment to the U.S. Constitution has got to go.

People should NOT be allowed to walk around in public brandishing guns. Period. If you feel you need a gun at home to protect yourself, so be it. If you need one in the forest to hunt, okay… (But I would rather we preserve what little wildlife is left.) But there is NO reason you need a gun on the streets of a town or city, or inside the Michigan Statehouse— except to intimidate and threaten. And kill. Why does the right to threaten other people get constitutional protection? It‘s insane.

“People should NOT be allowed to walk around in public brandishing guns. Period.”

I support gun control, as do most Americans, and the lack of legislation to protect us from explicit threats of death and violence from dangerous men is just one in a long list of ways our government is failing us.

But Jani’s piece isn’t about the second amendment. It’s about how the media fail to label white groups as terrorists. His point is timely and valid. This is an egregious error with real consequences.

I remember when I was the editor of a small newspaper in Millbrae, California (The Millbrae Sun) and a new owner made a copy edit to my police report.

“You can’t say the suspect is black,” he told me.

“Why not? It’s an identifier.”

“Because you don’t say other people are white.”

That was a huge eye opener for me. I am white. I grew up in an all-white neighborhood and went to nearly all-white elementary and high schools. So to me, white was the norm — or it seemed to be, before Jerry Fuchs opened my eyes. Then I remembered that, guess what? The universe doesn’t revolve around me! There are other people on the planet, some of whom might even be reading the Millbrae Sun.

But it wasn’t just a matter of hurt feelings or political correctness. Because oppression begins by labeling one group as “other,” by separating them out from the rest of the herd.

Jerry was Jewish, and I wonder if that helped to inform his world view. Hitler used language in service of his “final solution” of murdering all Jews, believing so much in the power of the pen (and mouth) that he appointed an official Minister of Propaganda. I’m sure being a woman made me open to hear it. Because I see the way language is used against my gender. Like when sexually active women are shamed as “sluts” and sexually active men praised as “players.” Or when a commanding woman is criticized as being a “bitch” but a commanding man is admired as a “leader.”

As Jani says in both the story above and White Supremacists, Sexists and Neo-Nazis Lead Protests at Ohio Statehouse, calling armed white supremacists simply “protestors” or “demonstrators” normalizes them, giving the impression that they represent the “average” person next door who has a common point of view, when in fact the April 15 protest in Michigan was organized by the far-right Michigan Conservative Coalition and the Michigan Freedom Fund.

What do you call a group of white people holding guns at a protest? Terrorists.

What do you call a group of white people shouting “lock her up” outside the Michigan Statehouse where Governor Gretchen Whitmer works? Sexists.

What do you call the white woman holding the “Arbeit Macht Frei, JB” sign in Illinois where governor JB Pritzker is of Jewish descent? A Nazi.

What do you call a president who praises and encourages terrorists, sexists and Nazis? Donald Trump.

Just as our government fails when it allows right-wing white men with guns to threaten and intimidate others, so our media fail when they ignore the facts. It’s important to call a spade a spade and a terrorist a terrorist. Simple “protestor” is not enough.

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