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Dear Editor:
It’s a sensitive time in America. What we desperately need to talk about are topics we tiptoe around in an effort to spare hurt feelings.
This is reflected in our fickle language. If you follow current events – moreover, truly grasp flashpoint social movements like Black Lives Matter, gay rights, feminism, and civil rights – you were once deemed “informed.” Now, you’re “woke,” or possess some degree of “wokeness.”
“Martyr” for example, was once defined as dying for a belief, often religious. Martyrdom’s meaning now seems to include people who are wrongly killed, regardless of the circumstances or their beliefs.
A quick read of historically accepted martyrs includes Nathan Hale, Joan of Arc, Thomas Becket and Martin Luther King.
Skip a few decades and you’ll find an unofficial group accepted in some quarters as modern-day martyrs. Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin come to mind.
When, if ever, is it no longer considered cruel, racist, or at least impolitic to ask about a shooting victim’s upbringing?
Last year, a 13-year-old boy in Chicago, allegedly with a gun, was out well past curfew and shot dead by a policeman. Thirteen is too young to die, but how many years are needed for the family to teach that child common sense and some understanding of what’s right and wrong?
I wonder how many post-Columbine tragedies we could have been spared if we asked these impolite questions more often.
Jim Newton
Itasca, Ill.