On an emotional weekly roundup, Brad and Dan discuss the timeline, law enforcement failures, and nihilism of the Uvalde Massacre. From the handcuffing of parents trying to rescue their kids, to the myth of the good guy with a gun, to the hypocritical theologies of Christian nationalists . . .
Brad points out that this took place in a town near the Southern Border--but that instead of an outsider other, who the GOP always tries to demonize, it was a monster created in this country, abiding by its gun laws, and acting in a way that only happens here--not in Mexico or anywhere else.
Dan responds to the Uncle Rons of the world who would claim this is a result of a loss of Christian values, the nuclear family, or patriotism.
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Welcome to Straight White American Jesus.
My name is Brad Onishi, faculty at the University of San Francisco.
Our show is hosted in partnership with the Kapp Center at UCSB, and I'm here with my co-host today.
I'm Dan Miller, associate professor of religion and social thought at Landmark College.
It's good to see you, Brad.
It's been a rough week, as everybody will know, but at least one high point for me is that I at least get to sit down with you virtually for a few minutes and reflect on some of this stuff.
Well, same for me, and just an overwhelming week for anyone in this country.
It's cliche, Dan, but there's no words to express what it is those in Uvalde are going through, those in Buffalo are continuing to go through, those at the church in Orange County down in Laguna are going through.
There's more crises than we can keep up with.
Every time that the grieving starts, there's another catastrophe, and that's really hard.
Let's just jump into it.
Let's not spend any time, you know, dilly-dallying as I used to say as a kid.
So, let's jump into some of the details about Uvalde, and I think this is going to lead us into a lot of discussions about values, Christian nationalism, but also the police response, and just some ideas we have about safety, security, blah, blah, blah in this country.
So, let me run down some Some details, Dan, that many of you will already be familiar with.
Some of you will not have been, but let's just do a summary.
A couple days ago, an 18-year-old shooter walks into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
Uvalde is near San Antonio and in between San Antonio and the U.S.-Mexico border.
What we're going to discover here in a minute, Dan, is that there were conflicting reports from law enforcement.
So here's a quote from CNN given by an official from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
He walked in unobstructed initially.
So he went from his grandmother's house, the shooter, where he shot his grandmother.
He crashed his car in a ditch.
He then walked into the school.
He was in front of the school actually shooting for 12 minutes, was not confronted by anyone, and then went into the school, into the classroom where he was there with a whole class of students and barricaded.
Now, there's conflicting reports here because initially it was reported that when he arrived at the school, the shooter, he was engaged by a resource officer who is posted at the elementary school.
This has led to a lot of outrage, Dan, because it really does feel like law enforcement locally is obfuscating the story and the facts.
So if I just go down and read a little bit from CNN.
There was no school resource officer on site or available at the time.
Inside, the suspect walked into a classroom and fired more than 25 times.
The majority of the gunfire was in the beginning of the attack.
Officers arrived at the school at 1144 a.m., which was around 15 minutes after the shooter had arrived.
But when they went to confront the gunman, they received fire and took cover.
Three law enforcement officers went in the same door.
The shooter used to enter the school and four went through another school entrance.
They called for more resources and personnel, they evacuated students and teachers, and they began, quote, negotiations with the subject.
Now, the conflicting reports come here.
On May 25, the Department of Public Safety Commissioner Steve McCraw says, as he was approaching, there was a brave, consolidated, independent school district officer that approached him, engaged him.
At that time, gunfire was not exchanged, but the subject was able to make it into the school.
A day later, Another person from Department of Public Safety, Regional Director Victor Escalon says, "It was reported that a school district police officer confronted the suspect that was making entry.
Not accurate.
He walked in unobstructed initially." So he goes in unobstructed, Dan.
We're going to kind of get to why that's significant here in a minute, just given all of the money and resources that the city of Uvalde spends on law enforcement at its schools and so on.
However, some of these details that came out yesterday are just absolutely excruciating to read.
And so I will give you just a little snippet here from the Wall Street Journal.
Residents in Uvalde expressed anger and frustration Thursday about the time it took for law enforcement to end an elementary school shooting.
The police were doing nothing, said Anjali Rose Gomez, who, after learning about the shooting, drove 40 miles to Robb Elementary School, where her children are in second and third grade.
So she drove 40 miles.
They were just standing outside the fence.
They weren't going in there or running anywhere.
State officials have said that local police were at the school within a few minutes of the gunman entering the building and exchanged gunfire with him, but they were unable to gain access to a classroom where he barricaded himself, firing on officers.
Ms.
Gomez, a farm supervisor, said that she was one of numerous parents who began encouraging, first politely, and then with more urgency, police and other law enforcement to enter the school.
After a few minutes, federal marshals approached her and put her in handcuffs, telling her she was being arrested for intervening in an active investigation.
So, here's a woman who drove 40 miles to her kid's school.
There is an active shooter inside.
There are law enforcement outside who seemingly are not doing much, and they put her in handcuffs.
Once freed from her cuffs, she jumped the school fence, ran inside, and sprinted out with her kids.
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