I had been to Cielo Vista shopping mall in El Paso during my internship down there in 2001. There were times, especially on the weekends, where I didn't have to go into work (because the stadium was closed) and I had nothing to do except show up to the station on time, and since games and the show were during the evening, I had the afternoon all to myself. There are two malls in the area, and for some reason, Cielo Vista, in the eastern side of the city, was more popular than Sunland Park in the west.
There was nothing remarkable about Cielo Vista, but that's the point. Everybody was there, shopping but, like me, mostly people-watching, seeing family enjoying each other, just hanging out and living. I don't know how it is now, since Amazon and online shopping have decimated shopping malls as a whole, but I hear that between 1,000 and 3,000 people were in the mall at the time of the massacre for back-to-school sales. And that's not counting anybody in the adjacent Wal-Mart, which I believe was the start of the mass shooting.
My heart goes out to those who died, and who are injured, as well as their families and the entire city of El Paso. But then again, my heart always goes out to the innocent of these massacres, and nothing has been done. Politicians and others in a position of power -- people who have the power to stop these shootings through background checks and red flag laws and, fuck it, assault weapons bans -- they send their hearts out, too, but this has happened so fucking much after the, what, almost 300 massacres this calendar year alone that these notes of thoughts and prayers and now goddamn useless.
And I wake up to see there's been another shooting, this time in a bar in Dayton. #ThisIsAmerica
There was nothing remarkable about Cielo Vista, but that's the point. Everybody was there, shopping but, like me, mostly people-watching, seeing family enjoying each other, just hanging out and living. I don't know how it is now, since Amazon and online shopping have decimated shopping malls as a whole, but I hear that between 1,000 and 3,000 people were in the mall at the time of the massacre for back-to-school sales. And that's not counting anybody in the adjacent Wal-Mart, which I believe was the start of the mass shooting.
My heart goes out to those who died, and who are injured, as well as their families and the entire city of El Paso. But then again, my heart always goes out to the innocent of these massacres, and nothing has been done. Politicians and others in a position of power -- people who have the power to stop these shootings through background checks and red flag laws and, fuck it, assault weapons bans -- they send their hearts out, too, but this has happened so fucking much after the, what, almost 300 massacres this calendar year alone that these notes of thoughts and prayers and now goddamn useless.
And I wake up to see there's been another shooting, this time in a bar in Dayton. #ThisIsAmerica
No comments:
Post a Comment