Hello Friends and Family,
If you want to see some fluffy fun, I advise that you scroll to the very end of this blog post. Right now, I am angry, sad, and I have a few things to say.
Shizz is about to get real.
It’s hard staying positive when it seems like there is much wrongness in the world right now.
It’s wrong that internationally there have been 90 incidents of terrorism in the month of June. It’s currently the 12th.
It’s wrong that a young woman chose to go out to have fun at a college party with her sister, was preyed on by the creepiest of freshmen, and consequently was raped by that freshman behind a dumpster – who knows what else could have transpired if not for two Swedish exchange students catching the rapist in the act as they bicycled past.
It’s wrong that even with a rape kit and the accounts of two eye witnesses, the victim was dragged through a year of reliving her worst nightmare in court with that piece of scum’s defense trying to turn the blame around on the victim to paint her as a promiscuous girl who should’ve known not to drink so much.
Well bruh, maybe he shouldn’t have tried to rape so much.
It’s wrong that even though the victim’s attacker, Brock Turner, was found guilty on all three counts by the jury, he was only sentenced to 6 months jail time when the minimum court sentence in California with the intent to rape is three years.
It’s wrong that he’ll only serve 3 months of his 6 month sentence in prison and will have an armed escort with him at all times during that time. This article perfectly captures my utter anger and disbelief of Brock Turner’s sentence. If anything could be labeled as a silver lining, the victim prepared a beautiful and prolific impact statement and had the courage to read it to her attacker’s face in court on June 2. I encourage everyone to read it.
It’s wrong that rising star Christina Grimmie went to go greet a fan with open arms at an autograph signing, and instead of returning her hug, he shot her without provocation or known motive.
It’s wrong that hundreds of LGBTQ people went to go out and celebrate at a gay nightclub called Pulse on a Saturday night, and a homophobic psychopath with ISIL sympathies turned up at 3 am with an assault rifle and murdered 49 innocent people and injured 53 innocent more.
It’s wrong that this mass murderer had been suspected as an ISIL sympathizer by the FBI but, due to loopholes in American gun laws, was able to legally purchase an assault rifle.
It’s wrong that our country’s politicians vowed in 2012 when another psychopath entered an elementary school named Sandy Hook and murdered 26 people – 20 of whom were first graders – with an assault rifle that a tragedy of such magnitude would never happen again.
It’s wrong that when the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 and the Manchin-Toomey Amendment – which would have expanded background checks on gun purchases – were introduced, both were defeated in the Senate on April 17, 2013.
It’s wrong that after our elected officials failed to pass legislation to protect us, there were mass shootings in: a movie theater in Aurora, a work training event and holiday party in San Bernardino, a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, Umpqua Community College in Oregon, a Methodist church in Charleston, NAVSEA’s headquarters at Navy Yard…I could keep going.
It’s wrong that people hide behind the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to justify shady-ass gun laws and insist that it’s their right as an American to purchase assault rifles.
Further, last time I checked, you don’t need an AR-15 to hunt deer or rabbits. And even if the zombie apocalypse truly does happen, unless you’re a sniper and can shoot zombies right in the brain, AR-15s won’t do you much good then either. The way I see it, the only people qualified to handle such weaponry is the U.S. military, not civilians.
It’s wrong that after the death toll numbers from Pulse kept rising on Sunday, after a mother shared her son’s petrified text messages of being trapped in the bathroom by the gunman, after a mother publicly begged for any information about her son’s whereabouts, this is how the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party responded:
It seriously makes my blood boil, and I’ve read it countless times.
It’s wrong that despite all of these tragedies, all these Americans dying – no meaningful change has happened. It especially hurts when I read about other Western countries who went through ONE mass shooting tragedy, their politicians set aside political differences and changed gun policies. Here’s some food for thought.
U.S. Congress – why don’t you care? How many more people must die until meaningful change happens? And no, blindly banning immigration of Muslims won’t solve anything.
I don’t even know how to wrap this up really. All I can say is that I plan to:
- Stay mad.
- Be informed.
- Be an ally.
- Engage and challenge elected officials to do better. We put them in office; we can take them out of office.
- Look for and be the helpers in the world. Like this. And this. This too.
- Tell my loved ones just how much they mean to me.
- Cry.
- Go for a run or some other cathartic, energizing activity.
- Find a way to laugh because life is just so short.
- Go hug my dog.
- Make some goddamn pizza. I personally tried this one because Boyfriend is still enamored with home meal delivery services. But make sure the pizza dough is room temperature. When it’s cold, apparently it’s not a happy camper.
Without further ado, here’s a Snapchat story of Sie Lizzie D and Boyfriend making their first pizza together. (Apologies in advance for how silly and technologically deficient it is).
Tschüss!
Sie Lizzie D
P.S. To help and/or learn more, check out these links:
- Consider donating to the Orlando Victims’ GoFundMe page.
- Click here to register to vote.
- A guide by Huffington Post on how to contact your elected officials on gun control issues
- Sign this petition to remove Judge Aaron Persky for his sentencing decision in the Brock Turner rape case.