Today the term “ghetto” takes on all sorts of meaning not around when Elvis sang his hit “In the Ghetto” in early 1969. Today, if we say something is “ghetto” we probably mean urban black. Not so, back then. Up until that recording, Ghetto was more universal, had its roots in European oppression, but still spoke of community and way of life. Ghetto soon evolved into meaning urban inner city in America, without much hope.
As we all settle and adjust to yet another mass murder in our country, there is something else to consider. As shocked and rattled as we are by Gabby Gifford’s’ attack, the Aurora Theater massacre, and now the Newtown, Ct murders, we are overlooking how many little children are killed by guns yearly in the inner cities of our nation.
These little children are just as innocent as those 5, 6, and 7 year old babies were in Newtown. Their parents are as horrified and shocked and without consolation as are the parents of the dead in Newtown. The inner city parents can make no sense of wanton killing either, much less the loss of their child.
The inner city kids who have died didn’t have the right address. They didn’t come from a nice neighborhood or have expectations of non-violence. Or did they? No one expects their little child to be gunned down or to catch a stray bullet in his stroller or his mother’s arms.
We need to think about these children also, not just the children of Newtown. These children have just as much right to safety, and yes, to life, as the little Connecticut children. How many innocents will die this year while we all babble on in our middle class accents? One is too many. These children are not expendable either. Yet nearly 300 little kids have died in Chicago in three years. The gun debate must include them.
Elvis Presley got it over 40 years ago. Apparently not everyone does, even today.
