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Gary Younge's Another Day in the Death of America Explores the Reality of Gun Control

  • LeftOnRead
  • Jun 24, 2020
  • 2 min read


I bought Gary Younge’s Another Day in the Death of America around two years ago but, in light of recent protests, have only just sat down to read it. The Black Lives Matter movement has of course always been important and I should have read it back when I bought it, but I was ignorant to the cause for so long. Reading Younge’s work has come hand in hand with acknowledging my own privilege as a white, blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman, and has certainly prompted me to support BAME authors like I should have been all along (and not only non-fiction!)


Another Day in the Death of America follows the stories of ten young lives lost to gun violence across eight states all in the same twenty-four hours.


‘Like the weather that day, none of them would make big news beyond their immediate locale because, like the weather, their deaths did not intrude on the accepted order of things but conformed to it.’


Now, Younge makes it clear from the beginning that this book explores multiple angles of gun violence in America, from gangs embedded within communities to parental responsibility. Moreover, it’s a logical exploration of gun control and the horrendous laws that are constantly passed. Yet the oppression and poverty faced by BAME communities cannot be ignored.


A total lack of consideration for gun laws has resulted in ‘more than 40 percent of homes’ placing ‘guns without a trigger lock in an unlocked place.’ The decision to possess a gun is often indicative of the lack of support and the increased danger within BAME communities, but as Younge states, this decision comes with responsibility. He writes, ‘We all have free will. We all have agency. We all must take responsibility for what we do’, particularly in a world where guns are so freely available.


It‘s interesting to consider Younge’s analysis of parental behaviour, yet he also rationally comprehends how such young lives have been lost to the detriment of those in power holding a tight grip on their status. ‘In eight of the ten years prior to the day this book was written, the number of murders in Chicago was greater than the number of US fatalities in Afghanistan.’ Yep, let that sink in.


It is extremely important, right now and always, to acknowledge your own privilege and pick up a book like this, however uncomfortable, to expose yourself to facts that need shouting about. ‘Two of the most likely outcomes for a black male under the age of twenty-five’ in America ‘is prison or death’. This is almost unimaginable yet it’s a reality, a reality that has been around for years and years.


Younge has done something special here. I implore everyone to read this book and understand that unnecessary murder is happening to real people, to sons and daughters, to people who should not be remembered as just that, right now.

- Katie S.









 
 
 

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