Caroline Light Pens Op-Ed on Historical Roots of Mass Violence

June 17, 2016

WGS Director of Studies Caroline Light has authored a timely essay for Beacon Broadside, "Mass Killing in Popular (Mis)Memory."

Professor Light urges readers to consider the recent mass shootings at Orlando LGBTQ nightclub Pulse and at a Black church in Charleston, S.C. as part of the long legacy of an American "nation [that] was founded on chattel slavery and settler colonialism, which required armed violence to sustain." Recognizing these points of historical continuity, says Light, even if they are mischaracterized in textbooks, is essential for Americans to take responsibility for society's structural heterosexism and racism, as well as a toxic reliance on guns.

Professor Light addresses some of this history more deeply in her forthcoming book Stand Your Ground: America’s Love Affair with Deadly Self-Defense, which will be released in February 2017 by Beacon Press.

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