Enough!

I didn't write this — Roland Martin did — but wish I had.

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="alignleft" width="214"] Roland Martin[/caption]

Enough!

Enough with putting off tomorrow what we should be talking about today. Enough with being afraid to step on someone's delicate sensibilities when it comes to the Second Amendment. Enough with elected leaders who are too cowardly to confront the National Rifle Association and their ardent supporters. Enough with moms and dads and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and pastors and deacons who are afraid to make public the private anguish of mental illness.

Enough! Enough! Enough!

Enough with just asking for thoughts and prayers. Enough with just hugging our children. Enough with leaving flowers and teddy bears at a makeshift memorial.

It's time for action. It's time for people of conscience to, in the words of the late civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, be "sick and tired of being sick and tired."

America, 20 of our children are dead, and we are all paralyzed, not knowing what to do or say.

And every time this happened, those who refuse to discuss gun control are quick to say, "Now is not the time."



One day after Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas said it was time to talk about this nation's fascination with guns. Instead of being hailed as an honest communicator, he was vilified for having the audacity to raise the subject at the halftime of a football game.

It wasn't time to talk about this when Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot in the head, and six others were killed in January 2011. It wasn't time in July 2012 when 12 people were blown away in a movie theater in Colorado. Seven were killed at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee near August, and we were told then, "Now is not the time."

So, please, exactly when is the time?

America, now is the time for us to stop living in denial. We must address guns. We must address mental illness. We must have the courage and conviction to put aside our political views and deal with the task at hand.

Indeed, enough pandering to the NRA and its gun-nut membership. Enough, all you chicken shit politicians. Get some backbone and stand up. Now is the time.