A pamphlet was sent to the author. The photo is courtesy of Owosu.
There are a lot of things to rage about if you are a woman or a parent. Being in a state of outrage is bad for our health.
I feel like lava is flowing through my veins today. The pamphlet was titled "National Child Identification Program."
She handed it to me with a confused look on her face and showed me a page with slots for her fingerprints. She told us we needed to fill this out.
I was searching for the right reply. I said we would look at it later. The sketches of a naked, genderless child were found in the pamphlet.
As I realized what I was supposed to do, I began to cry. If my child's face was blown off by an assault weapon, I wanted her figure to be labeled with any birthmarks, moles, scars, or other distinguishing features.
We have a large, urban school district that requires students to carry clear backpacks this school year. The horror of the Uvalde school shooting was uppermost in my mind. I wanted to know if anyone thought clear backpacks made anyone safer. I breathed a sigh of relief that my youngest didn't know why the backpack rule was made.
There are many ways for parents to get to know their kids. I think we are embracing willful ignorantness for our child. She understood the clear backpacks more than she understood the pamphlet. She doesn't know if bad guys are doing good or bad in the world. I don't know why the adults around her won't do simple things to keep her safe. I am ashamed of our elected leaders who refuse to put the lives of children ahead of the gun lobby. I can't summon a rational explanation for the current situation.
A pamphlet was sent to the author. The photo is courtesy of Owosu.
My husband and I are not able to shield our teenagers from the news. Our country's grown-ups have failed them, so the best we can do is broach the topic with them. Our country has only made modest policy changes despite decades of talk about gun reform. We tell them that it is not the case in other countries. Teenagers who aren't fully developed and can't buy alcohol aren't able to get a gun license in other countries. Guns are hard to get in other countries, and gun deaths in other countries are less than in the U.S.
We all seem to be detached from the subject. They are unlikely to experience a shooting at their school. We tell ourselves this because we want to sleep.
I want to make a desperate plea to everyone who has a child, knows a child, or believes that children have a right to exist to carry on the human race, if nothing else.
If you live in Texas, or any other state, where far-right Republicans have made a mockery of your child's safety, vote for the candidate who supports gun rights. No one will come for your rifles. On the topic of gun control, vote for a return to sanity.
Clear backpacks, active shooter drills, and law enforcement programs to help identify children's dismembered bodies are the best we can do for our children.
I will carry my rage with me to the polling place.
A Dallas-based writer and editor is namedJoanna Owusu. She was a federal government analyst in the past and is still a news junkie. When she isn't writing or reading she spends most of her time babysitting her three children.
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The article was first published on HuffPost.
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