by Cloie Rakes

I think we can all agree that the week of September 8th to the 12th has been a rough week.
There has been a lot of recent violence going on in America like school shootings,
assassinations and many shoot outs. How does this make you feel? I know I can say I feel
very sad and infuriated. America has fallen short of what it used to be.

Iryna Zarutska fled Ukraine in 2022 with her mother, sister, and brother to escape the war
with Russia “and she quickly embraced her new life in the United States,” her obituary
states. On the night of August 22 moments after she messaged her boyfriend to say she
would be home soon, the man behind her on the train stabbed her three times in the throat
in an unprovoked attack. The suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown, had a long rap sheet
and now faces a state charge of first-degree murder and a federal charge of committing an
act causing death on a mass transportation system. President Donald Trump, say he wants
Decarlos Brown to face the death penalty. This makes me very angry a women killed for
just breathing, the man didn’t even have a motivation he did it just because. This case has
reached a national audience.

Charlie Kirk was an was an American conservative political activist, author, and media
personality. He co-founded the conservative organization Turning Point USA in 2012 and
was its executive director. He was the chief executive officer of Turning Point Action and a
member of the Council for National Policy. On September 10 he was assassinated for
disagreements on his beliefs. What happened to freedom of speech and having your
personal opinion and speaking about it? Do we really kill each other because we don’t
agree on the same things? No matter how much you disagree with someone killing them is
not the answer. I personally believe he was always respectful to everyone who went up to
the stands to debate political issues or policies. He gave you the opportunity to speak and
ask questions, he never just cut you off. The day he was assassinated his children and wife
were present. Now all I can think about is his wife having no husband and his children
having no father.

Another major event was on September 11th at 3:25 pm Evergreen High school in Colorado
had an active shooter in their school. A 16-year-old brought a revolver and lots of
ammunition to school. The student waited until around lunchtime to start shooting. He
reloaded his handgun multiple times as he made his way throughout the school looking for
“targets,” said Jacki Kelley, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. “He
would fire and reload, fire and reload, fire and reload,” Kelley said. “This went on and on,
and as he did that, he tried to find new targets, and he came up against a roadblock on
many of those doors. He couldn’t get to those kids.” Two students were shot, one outside
the school and one inside the school. One of the outside crime scenes is on Olive Street,
just behind the school, which was still closed Thursday as the investigation continued. We
have all these safety precautions, how was this even possible? Why would a kid even think
of this? Why do we not have metal detectors? I can go on for days, the school shootings
have to stop, this should never happen. If 9/12/2001 saw the the way things are today they
would be disappointed in us?

On the same day of those major events was 9/11. Which made it hard for many parents to
function as they remember going home and watching the news or even being there in
person. America is still hurt by its loved ones and the heroes that day. In almost every state
people were having a remembrance ceremony for those who lost their lives.

To sum it all up, I’m hurt, angry and embarrassed of my country. Many people come from
other countries to America because they believe they we are all about freedom and unity.
Truth is we are suffering tremendously. There seems to be only two sides of the country
Republican or Democrat. There is no in-between and if you are this causes controversy. I
hope that justice is served for the recent violence that is increasing in our country. So really
what happened to unity and freedom?