townhall

Yesterday, I went to a memorial and community meeting regarding the shootings at the blue house. It was really amazing to see all of the community support. I find it interesting how tragedy binds a community together moreso than anything else. The community meeting was surprisingly supportive as well. I had anticipated a lot of victim-blaming and pointing fingers at the electronic music scene, the presumption of drug abuse, blah blah blah...but it wasn't at all like that. I truly feel that it was because the mayor and community leaders stood up in the beginning and stated repeatedly that they separated the "scene" from the actions of one individual. Had they not made such a bold statement from the onset, the meeting probably would have had a completely different tone. Particularly considering the discussions I had overheard before the meeting started from a group of women whose compassion clearly didn't extend beyond their white picket fences and/or to anybody who doesn't fit into their idealized notion of acceptably normal. Their asshattery just made me feel jaded. But luckily they were the minority and it made me really glad I live in a progressive city like Seattle where acting police chiefs and community leaders take stands on gun control (stands that I support clearly) and supporting non-mainstream communities.