http://www.stlamerican.com/news/columnists/article_90a56072-1e83-11e0-acee-001cc4c002e0.htmlPosted: Thursday, January 13, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 2:30 am, Thu Jan 13, 2011.
Terrorism in Tucson By Jamala Rogers St. Louis American |
The massacre in the Safeway parking lot is yet another example of how hate speech assigned to suggestive violent imagery can be explosive. Since the election of the first black president, we have seen the right ignite this combustible combo for the opportunist purposes of furthering its agenda and riling up its base.
The alleged gunman is Jared Loughner, who has a known recent history of instability. His bizarre and disruptive behavior led to suspension from Pima Community College until he underwent a psychiatric evaluation. These are some of the red flags that get ignored until a tragedy happens. Loughner's constant rhetoric about what is unconstitutional, immigrants not speaking English and loss of property rights suggests that he had picked up on the code words of right-wing political rhetoric.
Last year, Sarah "Reload" Palin had a map on her website that put several congressional districts in a symbolic crosshair. Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was in one of those rifle scope crosshairs. In response to
that map, Giffords' reprimand was that "there are consequences to that action." There are consequences: The legislator was the first to be gunned down, and before the rampage was over, six were killed and 12 wounded. Included in the carnage was a nine-year-old child, a federal judge, Giffords' staffers and other innocent bystanders.