Denial

I watch the local news, shaking my head. There is some kind of disconnect here that is not being talked about, at least, it seems, not publicly. It's no good marching arm in arm in the streets with matching tee shirts and signs, chanting Cease fire! and Put down the guns! and No more body bags! when the shooters are in fact your neighbors and kin and the self-imposed No Snitch rule remains hard and inviolate. Are the shooters gangbangers? Are the gangbangers strangers, some implacable alien force invading the borders of your community?

Or are they your children?