Gun violence threatens an American tradition

The high school football game is one of the most wholesome, uniquely American rites of life in the United States.

Though we in the Midwest probably lay the most claim to the weekly autumn spectacle of "Friday Night Lights," it transcends geography. It brings together people who ordinarily wouldn't cross paths were it not for their mutual love of the game.

Last week, a time of sportsmanship and fun was shattered by a shooting outside of a football game being played at Whitmer Memorial Stadium in Toledo.

The two adults and a 17-year-old who were shot are expected to recover.

No players or fans inside the stadium were hurt ― just terrorized.

The reason the incident made national news is because a sense of innocence still remains around children's sporting events. We desperately need to believe there remains some place, some oasis, from the scourge of violence that threatens American public life.

It's why we're so disgusted when crazed sports parents attack referees, coaches and umpires.

It's why those folks are becoming an endangered species.

The Toledo Public School District did everything right. Fans were screened for weapons before they could enter the stadium. There were 16 members of law enforcement on the stadium grounds.

Initial reports are that the shooting may have been gang-related.

Someone explain to me why people who have no use for school, insist on disrupting and loitering around school-related activities.

Because you can set your watch to it, a few people dog-whistled that "we know" who did the shooting.

Sure we do: It's people who have no business with access to guns. However that now requires a caveat, thanks to Ohio's loosey-goosey gun policy.

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But the story is already fading. We have become so inured to school-related gun violence stories that such incidents barely have the lifespan of a house fly.

It now takes a high body count to hold our attention.

That Ohio has not had a mass school shooting on the scale of a Uvalde, Sandy Hook or Parkland, is just sheer, dumb luck.

Let's not play footsie, here. Democrats, who tend to dominate politics in cities thanks to the minority voters whom they take for granted, have to stop whistling past the real-life issue of crime.

To draw a hard line in the sand against crime and gun violence is not an indictment of the vast majority of Black people and other minorities who are law-abiding citizens, who more often than not are the victims of violent crime.

It's an indictment of the criminals who are committing the crimes.

And, no, Tommy Tuberville, they are not one and the same.

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Democrats must address the problem without resorting to the fear-mongering we see among their opponents, who have no real solutions for the problem, but who find it as a convenient and effective campaign tool.

We know there is an irrefutable link between poverty, inadequate education systems and crime.

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We know that once a minority child is entered into the criminal justice system, he or she is at real risk of becoming a repeat offender, then an adult felon.

The school-to-prison pipeline is real for too many young adults whose lives have been made nearly insurmountable by insufficient parenting, grinding poverty, and the instability they both generate.

Kids unequipped and unable to navigate through such a gauntlet often act out through the language of violence and aggression.

Sports is not just about winning, it's also about fairness. The boys who worked hard to be able to play last week, the cheerleaders who rehearsed their routines, the marching bands who polished their steps and music, and others who came to cheer on their schools were cheated out of the opportunity to engage in a tradition that helps define the high school experience.

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It's time to admit that what we're doing isn't working for too many kids, which is endangering those who try hard to do what's right, however challenging it may be in 2022.

If we continue to wash, rinse, and repeat, it won't be very long before some playing field becomes a killing ground.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charita Goshay: Gun violence threatens an American tradition