New York, Nu York: Do Not Normalize Violence

By ELLEN LEVITT
Rarely do I start my blog essays with a quote but here is one:
"We will never normalize violence, we will never reach the point where we become immune" to violence.
A man said this yesterday. Was this in response to a terrorist attack in Israel? Was it in response to a stabbing or bombing or car ramming or shooting perpetrated on an Israeli citizen? It seems like it could have been.
But no, it was stated by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and it was in response to the accidental shooting and the subsequent death of a 16 year old girl named Shemel Mercurius. The girl was babysitting for her younger cousin and became aware of a violent situation. She tried to shield herself and the little boy, but she was shot and died. However, she did utter the name of the shooter to the police officers who rushed to the crime scene.
Maybe many or even most of you do not care too much about the death of a Caribbean-American teen girl in a somewhat rough neighborhood in Brooklyn. But my family and friends and I are saddened by this death, especially because this girl attended my older daughter's high school, Edward R. Murrow High School. (It is also my alma mater, and will be my younger daughter's school starting in September.)
When I read of this terrible crime, I was horrified. I recognized the street address. I asked my daughter if she knew the girl and she said no, but all the kids were passing around the news via social media. (Most of the students did not attend school yesterday unless they were taking a state exam in Algebra Two-Trigonometry.) But today the school held a moment of silence for the girl, which was announced over the public address in the morning.
And somehow this awful incident comes at the start of Gun Violence Awareness Month.
And I agree with the intent of Mr. Adams's quote, although I would amend it to read "We should never normalize violence." I add "should" because, quite sadly and frankly, too many people do normalize violence in today's world. We shrug it off way too quickly. Too many anti-Semites around the world shrug off the violence perpetrated on Jews, be they in Israel, France, Minnesota, or anywhere. And then again, too many people shrug off black-on-black violence. And that's wrong as well.
No, people, we really should not normalize violence, and should not shrug it off. The solution is so very complex but it must be worked on.