Knowing Your Triggers XIV

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell us that when it comes to death by firearm, Black folks are more likely to die from being shot by others, while they are much less likely to die from shooting themselves than Native Americans and white folks.

The CDC says these numbers increased between 2019 and 2020, with death by homicide rising most significantly among African Americans (from 19 per 100,000 to 27), and suicide most dramatically among American Indians (from 8 per 100,000 to 11). The homicide and suicide rates for whites held steady at 2 per 100,000 and 10 per 100,000, respectively.

I have no idea why destruction explodes among Black folks and seems to implode among Indians and whites. Maybe all of these actions are attempts to set right something that's wrong. 

Maybe in the case of Blacks, what's wrong is the community and the people in it. And maybe Native Americans and whites more often feel they are what's wrong, and the fix, if that's what we are to call it, is found in checking out. 

I don't know, but it's pretty clear to me that neither solution sets anything right.  They actually just compound the pain.