Over the weekend, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis attended a prayer vigil in the city of Jacksonville in the wake of an armed assailant murdering three black people in cold blood at a local Dollar General store in an act of violence local law enforcement say might have been racially motivated. Racism does indeed still exist, ladies and gentlemen. I don’t believe it does systemically, but individuals most certainly can have hatred for a person based solely on the color of their skin, which is ridiculously stupid and backward, but alas, due to the fallen nature of humanity, these folks are still around.
“Councilwoman, I gotcha, don’t worry about it,” DeSantis went on to say to Democrat Councilmember Ju’Coby Pittman. “We’ve already been looking to identify funds to be able to help one, make sure there’s adequate security for Edward Waters College. We are not going to allow these institutions to be targeted by people.”
According to the Daily Wire, a lot of those who attended the event gave the governor a round of applause, though a small number of individuals in the crowd booed and protested DeSantis as he continued to speak. Pittman was having none of that, taking the microphone and addressing those who were protesting head-on.
“Let me tell, we putting parties aside, because it ain’t about parties today,” she remarked. “A bullet don’t know a party. So, don’t get me started.”
Amen! That’s some serious truth the whole country needs to take to heart. Politics are what is killing the nation, driving people apart from one another along arbitrary lines. We as a culture, a society, are the ones who lose from such an arrangement. The political ruling class win because with both sides polarized and hating each other, the common people are easier to rule over. Not only that, but they make a ton of money off the division.
At the end of the day, murder, for any reason, is a blight on our society and impacts us all, whether we realize it or not. Those three individuals who were killed were contributing members to their communities, their families, and were valuable in what they brought to the table, no matter how small. We are now cheated of that due to the hateful actions of one person.
People should come together, realize how much we need one another, and be a shoulder to lean in times of tragedy, such as a triple murder. That’s what it means to be American. Yes, we’re individuals. Yes, we have personal freedom and liberty. But we are also a collective. A collective made up of free people who decide, of their own accord, to love and help one another, without the government interfering.
Or that’s the goal. We fall pretty short of that ideal at the moment.
“If the governor wanted to come here, and he bringing gifts to my community, y’all know I’m taking the gifts, because we’ve been through enough already,” Pittman continued. “And I don’t want to go through no more. Now y’all be quiet just a minute and let the governor say what he gonna say.”
At this point, DeSantis got back in control of the event, stating that his office is currently looking at sending funds from the state to help increase security in the area and to provide help and relief for the victims’ families.
“We are not going to let people be targeted based on their race,” he continued during his address. “We are going to stand up and we are going to do what we need to do to make sure that evil does not triumph in the state of Florida.”
“DeSantis noted that his administration has worked to protect Jewish schools from anti-Semitic violence and that he will be working equally to provide the same protection to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs),” the Daily Wire reported.