We have been drowning in violence. It seems to be everywhere and all the time.
I think of the horror of the murders of the Minnesota state legislator and her husband by someone disguised as a police officer, knocking at their door. I think of the young Ukrainian woman sitting alone after work on a railcar in Charlotte, stabbed to death while going home. I think of Charlie Kirk being assassinated while engaging in free speech and debate on a Utah college campus And I think of the horrific event so close to home and so near to my work, where a young married couple, visiting Tucson for the first time, were innocently waiting for a streetcar. Suddenly, and without any provocation or warning, a man attacked the young husband with an axe in front of his horrified wife. The husband later died in a strange city, in a strange hospital room, surrounded by strangers. What are we to make of this?
We hear that violence has many gradations: political violence, gang violence, domestic violence, violence of passion and the definitions go on. But the result of any violence is always the same: meaningful lives snuffed out, families shattered and torn, children left parentless, communities and our nation devastated.
There seems to be one common thread in all acts of violence: the fragile and ignitable mental condition of the perpetrators of the violence. In the recent examples I cited, the criminals were all deeply disturbed individuals. How were they able to roam freely on the streets to wreak their havoc? Many of them had shockingly long criminal records and history, and practically all emitted clues and warning signs that their behavior was turning violent. Yet they somehow are allowed to proceed into their dark and sick missions of death.
And we see mental illness stoked by drug addiction, or vice versa, spilling over in other daily aspects of our society. Everyone can agree that the vast majority of those who are suffering from homelessness have severe mental instabilities or drug addiction, or in most cases, both. Domestic violence has the same causal denominators.
In talking to many constituents, they express their frustration and impatience with those who refuse to hold people responsible for their actions. If people break the law with their behavior, they must be held accountable, no matter what their mental or physical condition may be. That approach seems to be working at Pima County’s Transition Center where law breakers are given choices and directions after being arrested, incarcerated and released. “Let us help you help yourself by you getting help”, the professional navigators are saying. We need the full cooperation and support of Pima County’s Transition Center by the City of Tucson, the County Attorney, and all law enforcement, bearing in mind that those who break the law must be arrested and held accountable for their actions against our civil society.
I can’t help but wonder, what is the status of the individual who so heinously murdered the young husband in broad daylight in the middle of downtown Tucson? Is he being held accountable for his savage actions? I sadly think that this incident, like so many others will be swept under the rug.
Finally, another factor must be addressed: Speech. Words do matter and freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. A recent and disturbing trend that we are seeing in violence is the impact inflammatory words can have on mentally disturbed and troubled individuals. Constant and repetitive false and misleading characterizations of individuals or groups can motivate unstable people to violence.
We have seen this happen on the national level, and here in Pima County, there are examples of County employees, paid by your tax dollars, posting violent, hateful and horrific diatribes about individuals and recent events. Yet because these County employees generated their posts “on their own time with their own devices,” no action can or will be taken, under the protection of free speech, we have been told. Any thinking person would agree that there is no place for individuals who make such statements on the County’s payroll. There should be consequences.
Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy, District 4
33 N. Stone Avenue, Floor 11
Tucson, AZ 85701
520-724-8094
district4@pima.gov
