On Dec. 1, 1963, immediately after the assassination of President Kennedy, Malcolm X responded to that event by saying that America's chickens had come home to roost. He went on to say, "Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never did make me sad; they've always made me glad."
Malcolm understood what the Hindus call "karma"...cause and effect. As the old folks used to say, "what goes around...comes around." In his opinion, America's escalating foreign intervention in Vietnam was being deflected and reflected back upon us. And, for that statement alone, Malcolm was forbidden to speak in public by his religious leadership for 90 days. For that statement and others, he has been vilified by some Americans for over 50 years.
The "chickens" phrase has become so closely tied to the charismatic, Black leader and has fallen into such ill-repute that it's seldom repeated without risk of harsh criticism. That being said, please allow me to briefly borrow the phrase without retribution.
Why? Because, MAYBE, America's chickens ARE coming home to roost.
Christopher Scott Kyle was a United States Navy SEAL and the most lethal sniper in American military history, with 160 confirmed kills. Snap! snap! pop! pop! pop!!...after surviving four tours of duty in Iraq, Chris Kyle was shot and killed at the Rough Creek Lodge shooting range in Erath County, Texas on February 2, 2013. He was shot by a former Marine who reportedly suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Rata tat tat tat!!....since 2003, we have been engaged in violent, shooting wars (some say of choice?) in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 150,000 combatants and civilians died in Iraq, and thus far, over 2,000 Americans have died in Afghanistan. This doesn't account for the thousands of American military amputees and those with other physical, emotional, and mental disabilities, to include PTSD.
Rata tat tat tat!!....is the sound heard in Aurora, Colorado in July 2012, when a gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others in a Cinemark movie theater.
Pop! pop! pop! pop!!...rang out in January 2011, when a gunman ran up to a crowd outside a Safeway grocery store in Casas Adobes, Arizona, began firing, hitting 19 people, and killing six. Among the wounded, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head during her first "Congress on Your Corner" gathering of the year.
Rata tat tat tat!!....pierced the silence in 2009, when a shooter opened fire at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York before committing suicide. He killed 13 people and wounded four. Bang bang bang!!... interrupted prayers in 2005. when a church meeting was riddled with bullets by a church member at a Sheraton hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The gunman was thought to have had religious motivations, and killed himself after executing the pastor, the pastor's 16-year-old son, and seven others....Rata tat pop pop!!....were the shots heard round the world in 2007, when Virginia Tech became the site of the deadliest school shooting in US history as a student gunned down 56 people. Thirty-two people died in the massacre.
We still spread death in Afghanistan where drones fly freely and block out the sun. Bullying of the vulnerable is the pastime de jour on campus and online. Gang violence is rampant in Chicago and other major U.S. cities killing thousands. Murders in schools, places of worship, movie theaters, political gatherings, shooting ranges, grocery stores...is any place safe in America? Imagine the tens of thousand who suffer from PTSD from everyday American life...let alone military combat!!
The Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed due, in no small measure, to the public outrage from the then recent assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X in 1965. And, with all the tears and all the fears; and all the "slow song singing and flower bringing;" the emotion and commotion; the political grandstanding and gnashing of teeth...parts of America are still "cool" with the level of gun violence on the streets.
America has been sleep walking...lulled to sleep by the NRA and other conservative gun rights groups. Well, if previous tragedies have failed to do so, the killing of Chris Kyle, PERHAPS, will serve as a "wake-up call."
The "chickens" are here America...and we have a choice. We can make "chicken soup for the soul," or we can settle for egg on our face.
Until we rendezvous....
Peace!!
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