In ways big and small — in schools, in homes, in every facet of life — the United States fails to protect and support its children.
School shootings, like the massacre in Uvalde, Texas, that has left 19 students and at least two adults dead this week, are one of the most visceral examples of that failure. A second generation is now growing up in a world where school shootings are part of life. Columbine didn’t lead to meaningful policy change; neither did Sandy Hook; neither did Parkland; and the terrible truth is that Uvalde may not either.
The number of children killed by guns every day in the United States, in incidents that never make national news, is much higher than the death toll of victims in school shootings. The firearm homicide rate for US children ages 0-14 is astronomical compared to other wealthy nations, according to data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, with hundreds of budding American lives lost every year. Suicides by gun and accidental firearm deaths among kids […]
A great statement in this article;
“One explanation won’t suffice. But what is clear is that the structural forces that stand in the way of so many policy reforms have also made America a worse place for our children.”
Until voters realize that educational budget overrides aren’t just about property taxes, and the second amendment, isn’t about the right to use a machine gun – educational employees like myself, will have to keep bringing children protein bars, to classrooms and buses. I work with special needs children, and had to buy a student a pair of shoes last year, because he said his parents didn’t care that his were 2 sizes too small and hurting his feet. Maybe small acts on our part will change a child’s perspective in life, and until things change by voters, help us stomach the neglect within our collective.