It’s sad that it takes a tragedy so horrifying it’s beyond belief to get us to recognize a problem that’s been staring us in the face for decades. The culture of violence that this country was founded on is as American as apple pie. Sadly innocent children and brave teachers were murdered in Newtown, CT, and we can only hope their deaths won’t be in vain.

This same weekend, the continual violence that has plagued the city of Chicago left 2 dead and 16 wounded. The Black Star Journal reported that 107 children and youth were killed in Chicago between March of 2011 and March of 2012. This morning I read an article titled, “‘Did We Just Kill A Kid?’ — The Six Words That Ended A US Drone Pilot’s Career.”  Earlier this year, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that U.S. drones have killed 176 children in Pakistan alone.

In 2011 I made a video called “3 Little Girls” which told the stories of Christina Taylor Green, killed during the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Brisenia Flores, gunned down by anti-immigrant militia intent on starting a race war, and Aiyana Jones, shot to death while asleep in her home, by the Detroit Police Department, while they were filming a reality TV show.

In a statement I released with the video I wrote, “I realize these are sad stories, but how can we not be moved to action by the cold-blooded killings of innocent little girls? We have to begin to take an unflinching look at a culture that continues to glorify guns, bombs, and war and sees violence and aggression as the only solutions to its problems.”