Last week, our media took a break from the usual election garbage coverage and shifted to cover the devastating events at Cincinnati Zoo. As you may know, a gorilla was sadly shot dead after it grabbed a child who had accidentally fallen into the enclosure. The 400-pound male Western lowland silverback gorilla caused the 4-year-old boy serious injuries. Despite the fact that the gorilla did not look aggressive, experts have repeatedly stated that tranquilizing the gorilla would have worsened the situation and shooting the gorilla was the right choice if it meant saving the child.
The story quickly became very popular as people began to find someone or something to blame. Many found it appropriate to blame the mother of the child. People were very concerned with the idea that a mother could be so careless that she would lose sight of their child, to the extent that she was unsuccessfully charged for her actions and demanded she pay more attention. Others blamed the zoo for the lack of safety allowing toddlers to easily enter an enclosure and be exposed to such danger. Some criticized the method in which the situation was handled, accusing the zoo of killing an endangered species instead of tranquilizing the gorilla.
As people were too busy pointing fingers, they forgot about the big picture. A gorilla was being held in captivity in an enclosed space. Justifying his captivity as entertainment, educational, or lifesaving purposes shows us how low we think of animals. Both humans and animals are exposed to great danger when we place wild animals near human life. A beautiful animal was innocently killed for being himself, a wild animal. A gorilla does not understand the concept of treating a child with care. In the eyes of the gorilla, the child was just another object. He didn’t know that he is not to hurt the child or purposefully did so, in fact they are one of the gentlest animals. The only thing that could have prevented such an unfortunate event was if the gorilla was in his natural habitat, instead of the zoo.
As I continued to follow the story more, I found it even more interesting how the entire situation could be seen as a reflection of the daily struggles our society faces as a whole. The gorilla reminds me of the oppressed groups in this country. Depending on your situation, you probably did not ask to be an oppressed group, just like the gorilla did not ask to be caged in. When an animal is caged in, it is very limited in what they can do without someone or something getting agitated. Oppressed groups have very limited resources and opportunities to do as they sometimes would like, making it difficult to be as successful as someone that is not oppressed.
Animals are great to see at the zoo and seeing them through their cage, but as soon as they do something out of the ordinary it becomes a problem. Our society thinks it is okay for the gorilla to be caged in, but God forbid it almost kills a child, we must get rid of it. Our society thinks it is okay for immigrants to work and pay taxes, but God forbid they ask for the right to vote. Our society thinks it is okay for black people to become professional athletes that we enjoy watching, but God forbid they get together and form a movement. Society thinks it is okay for people from the Middle East to start businesses here, but God forbid they practice their own religion freely. Our society has sadly formed a caged around oppressed groups and breaking through them is frowned upon.
When things go wrong, the media plays a huge role in portraying one group as more radical than another. The media was quick to make headlines of a zoo killing a gorilla without giving all the facts. Usually oppressed groups are always at fault in the media, creating stereotypes that people feed into. Sadly, this story got more press than most wrong doings against oppressed groups have ever had.
Just like the public was quick to find blame for the events at Cincinnati Zoo, humans quickly blame each other for terrible social problems in society. We become so caught up in pointing fingers and creating hate among us that we forget the real problem, the system, an institution that wants to see us fighting. The zoo having animals in captivity is to blame for what happened that afternoon and it is the system that is to blame for having so many groups that are mistreated and not heard throughout society.
Do not let your time in finding someone to blame for your situation distract you from the real problem. We cannot allow the system to enclose us in their cage and do as they wish, but strive to break down any barriers from letting us be who we are and reaching our full potential. The gorilla didn’t know any better, but we do.
