If you are anything like me, you were glued to the couch watching the Tony’s on June 12. James Corden hosted this year’s awards and he couldn’t have done a better job. He made jokes where appropriate and had perfect tact when acknowledging the awful tragedy that unfolded early Sunday morning in Orlando. He so elegantly stated that hate will never win, but hate is slowly crawling its way to the top and America doesn’t seem to care.
What happened in Orlando was not only an act of terrorism, it was a hate crime against the LGBT community. What happened to Christina Grimmie was a hate crime against Christians. What happened in San Bernardino was a hate crime against Muslims. All of the outrageous videos that surface of some police officers stepping completely over the line and crossing boundaries are hate crimes against races and just simple hate against people. When are these senseless acts of anger, rage and hatred going to end?
With the recent tragedy that unfolded in Orlando, many people are pointing the blame at Islam. The only thing to point the blame at is the single person that committed the awful act of hatred. As Vermont Senator, Bernie Sanders tweeted “One hateful person committed the atrocity in Orlando, not an entire people or an entire religion.” We cannot judge an entire religion, race, or community for outrageous acts of violence and hatred committed by one single person.
As a community, country and as human beings, we need to step up and make sure these tragedies become a part of our country’s history and not our future. We need to learn how to love one another and tolerate the differences between our citizens that make our country great! We, as America, need to take action and make sure that gun control laws are changed, so people who are hateful and want to commit these violent atrocities are not able to buy firearms. The gun that was used in the Orlando shooting was a military grade weapon that was not only purchased by a private citizen, but by someone who was on a terrorist watch list. Why does the government allow someone to buy an AR-15 who cannot legally purchase a plane ticket?
Now is the time to take action! Call your senators, representatives, and governors and demand gun reform! The United States senate just voted down a bill that would require background checks to purchase a gun. The following state’s senators voted against this bill: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. 29 out of 50 states voted against this bill. That means the senators from those 29 states put guns in the hands of potential terrorists. Call your senators and tell them what we need as a country! Tell them that someone who can’t buy a plane ticket shouldn't be able to buy a weapon.
Once gun control is put into place, the numbers and statistics of hateful, violent acts will drop drastically. Hate will never win as long as we take action to make sure it doesn’t. Love one another, unconditionally. Love everyone no matter what. If we promote this idea that everyone is worth love and kindness, hate will not win and love will.
