AIN’T HAPPY: Print It Black
Last month I sent many of ya’ll an email to tell you about ABC Live News’ documentary, “Print It Black” which was airing on the 2 year anniversary of the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It’s a sad and important story the needs to be told and the messages amplified.
In partnership with SXSWedu and Public Consulting Group, the Happy Guide community pitched in to get the Craig Garnett’s team from the Uvalde-Leader News to the Educational Writers Association’s annual conference to talk about their story which is featured in “Print It Black.”
Look I ain't happy about this sh!t. I can actually go a bit further ... I'm pissed. How do we allow Parkland (Fl), Sandy Hook (CT), Uvalde (TX) and as of April 2024 ... 18 other school shootings take place. Folks we gotta agree that "sitting back" can not continue. Politicians and fractured efforts by well intended groups continue to come up short.
On the bright side ... if there can be one ... of the 5k folks we emailed, 1,500 of you opened our missive and most of you clicked through to this video to learn more:
CASE STUDY: WHY DO YOUNG KIDS DIE AT SCHOOL?
Bottom line is it is YOUR FAULT. Look in the mirror … YOU.
How do I know this to be true? Thanks for asking, I tell you.
If you are reading this blog, I know with almost complete certainty that you fit this criteria:
- You are educated and have a good paying legit job.
- You have a computer and a safe place to type/read on it.
- You are an American citizen with the right to vote.
- Your neighbors work for public education, public safety, and other local businesses, and you most likely read the local news in some format.
- You think schools violence happens because somebody else screwed up … but NOT you.
Since the folks on all edges of the political spectrum won’t take responsibility, maybe it’s time we admit it is YOUR/OUR/MY FAULT that school violence happens. Let’s go to work.
Let’s Play the Blame Game … imagine the following in a completely fictional “case study” about taking responsibility:
Let’s say Parent A is jumping in a mini-van to get to their daughter’s soccer game just two miles down the road at the local elementary school playground. Earlier that morning, Parent B has taken the Cheerios littered car seat out and washed it with the garden hose. It’s soaking wet and drying in the overcast clouds on an early weekend morning.
So, Parent A simply seat belts the kid in using the old booster seat in the back. The daughter with her pink and white soccer ball is buckled in the backseat with a safety device that’s not fitted properly. It’s only 2 miles … how long can it take? Off they go.
1 mile down the road, Parent A gets a text from Parent B about the work being done to cut overgrown trees on School Street. Traffic is delayed and the game starts in 20 minutes. There was also mention of a damn dirty laundry pile and effin’ missing shoes, but that was the standard banter for a Saturday morning in this little neighborhood town.
Parent A took the backway … got to the 4-way stop. Being waved through the intersection by a DOT worker, the van moves forward pass the sign reading, "TREE WORK AHEAD".
BAM … CRASH … slow motion. A 10 year old Buick 4 door sadan slams into the side of the mini van right in front of the orange vested traffic director who’s been on the job for less than 3 weeks. It was supposed to be an easy slow shift directing traffic around tree limbs and work trucks.
Bent metal, shattered glass, steaming radiator fluid is everywhere. There is a small splat of red fluid on the passenger-side reardoor window.
Turns out the driver of the Buick is a 93 year old man who wears thick glasses and a straw hat, has prostate cancer and takes 10 prescription drugs a day, and just got his license renewed by the DMV for another 5 years without having to take a driving test. He was on his way to ACE Hardware to buy some twine to hang a bird feeder. Very slow to respond to the signal to stop and not completely focused on the task at hand, he slammed on his brakes but the slick pavement didn’t slow his car fast enough from hitting the van ... broadside.
WHO IS AT FAULT?
SHE’S DEAD. Young, innocent, and full of potential. Her head slammed into the window, and she died immediately. Imagine the sadness, rage, and determination the community felt? Why did this young girl die?
Well … let’s run down the list:
Parent A – who was late and picked the wrong route?
Parent B – who took the car seat out and called with a rant about all things evil in the world?
Daughter – who didn’t insist on getting the correct seat properly installed?
93 Year Old Man – who was legal to drive but not in the best health?
DPW – for not controlling the traffic around a work site during busy rush to soccer field?
Mayor – who knew those trees should have been cut LAST year?
Car Manufacturer – the side of the Van folded in like a tin can?
Neighbors – who didn’t insist the Mayor and DPW folks do their jobs?
Cheerios – for not making a device that prevented their product from always sticking in the bottom of every car seat ever manufactured in the USA and probably the world?
BACK AWAY FROM THE FIRE AND THINK LOGICALLY
IMHO, in this completely fictional case study, the point is IT’S EVERYONE’S FAULT. We are all to blame when horrible things keep happening across America and we just blame someone else. School shootings, toxic drinking water, and abuse of our senior citizens .... worse yet, we expect someone else to solve the problem.
Now before you even start on me, I’m not suggesting that my fictional case study can serve as an exact analogy to a school shooting. It’s all horrific stuff. I get that.
BUT, we cannot continue to act as victims awaiting for the next shoe to drop. We cannot keep waiting on someone else to save the day. We need to plan and execute on best practices of the best practices for making schools safe while allowing our children to grow up with confidence and joy in their lives.
We … local communities … must take on the responsibility and opportunity to make all schools safe for all children and teachers.
That includes the local press, local public safety, local politicians, local public schools, local families, local businesses, neighbors, friends, and families who must ALL COME TOGETHER. We must find a systemic, and persistent way to bring about local positive change. Folks it ain’t easy, but I swear we must believe it can and should be done.
Together, our job is to prevent the plane crashes. But when there is a crash, the first ones to the deep dark smoldering hole of impact must deliver the news, so we can go straight back to the job of prevention.
Thank you to our new friends at the Uvalde News Leader for showing us how. You have done great journalistic work. But in all honesty, I wish I'd never need to hear of this poweful documentary. Our hearts continue to be sad for your community and families.
Here's today's vid-clip:
Tony McLean Brown
A Western NC hillbilly through and through, Tony McLean Brown was born in the small town of Enka-Candler outside of Asheville. His parents re-named him when he was 3 years old to Tony (a nickname provided by his grandfather) McLean (middle name of his Uncle Michael) while retaining his legal surname Brown.
Throughout his career, Tony McLean Brown worked as a farmer, computer programmer, and management consultant – in his adventurous years – author, song-writer, bass player, poet, pilot, mountaineer, certified scuba diver, and competitor in professional bull riding, NASCAR late model racing, Toughman boxing, Crossfit Open, Ironman, pole vaulting, marathon and ultra-marathon running, as well as parenting.
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