Orlando in Context

I have lost count of the number of comments I’ve seen on Facebook arguing that the Orlando massacre is about “radical Islam” – that “radical Islam” is our true enemy. It’s a way to claim the massacre and the LGBTQ community for America – this wasn’t a homophobic or transphobic tragedy, or a tragedy that affected queer and trans people of color. It was an assault on our nation.

And, they remind us, the real homophobes aren’t the conservative Christians who preach against us and run on platforms that demonize us. The real enemy is out there – the “radical Islamicists” who want to kill us all. It is our duty, as LGBTQ people and as Americans, to donate this terrible crime to the greater cause.

If we’re not willing to admit that Christian reactionary homophobia really isn’t that bad in comparison – that it’s not so bad that we can be fired for being queer in places like Florida, or sent to an unregulated reprogramming camp in places like Texas – then we’re clearly in thrall to our liberal overlords. WAKE UP GAY SHEEPLE!!! says Milo Yiannopolous.  It’s time to choose.

This argument could never not be racist, homophobic, and transphobic as all hell, but it’s especially racist, homophobic, and transphobic given that Omar Mateen wasn’t the only man who went to a Pride event with an arsenal. Last weekend, we saw one completed and one attempted massacre. James Wesley Howell was stopped in Santa Monica on Sunday morning with a truck full of assault rifles and explosives. He was on his way to Los Angeles Pride. If he hadn’t been thwarted by luck, we might have been mourning the deaths of another fifty people – or more! We might have broken the Orlando record less than twenty-four hours after it was set.

James Wesley Howell is from Indiana and he is white. Although a friend of his claimed that he was bisexual, and that he harbored no animus towards LGBTQ people prior to Sunday, he fits the profile: a “lonerish” white man with an alleged history of violence against women and easy access to a whole lot of guns. He is now apparently claiming that he didn’t go to Pride to kill anybody – the weaponry was coincidental – but there’s no version of this story that isn’t terrifying.

I haven’t seen nearly as much coverage of Howell. Omar Mateen’s face is everywhere – the selfie that flew around the internet right after the news broke, and the more serious picture favored by CNN. Howell is nowhere.  Politicians and preachers don’t even seem to feel the need to dismiss him – either as a serious threat or as part of some larger political or cultural trend. Omar Mateen is trapped in context; James Wesley Howell is devoid of context. Omar Mateen represents an entire religion and region; James Wesley Howell is a “loner.” He implicates no one.

I’m sure part of this is because Howell will go down in history as a failure, someone who was stopped before he could do any damage. But some of the disparity is because he can’t be used to justify animus against Muslims. Nobody is demanding that liberals reexamine their liberal ethos of acceptance for his sake. The conservative values of white Midwestern America aren’t under scrutiny right now. Indiana isn’t being asked to apologize for the actions of its wayward son.

I’ve also seen a counter narrative emerging, one that fits this massacre into a different historical context. This framing reminds us that the Orlando massacre was not, in fact, the “worst mass shooting” in American history.  The massacre at Wounded Knee left 250 Native American people dead. The massacre at Sand Creek left as many as 163 Native American people dead, mostly women and children. The “riot” in Tulsa left as many as 300 Black people dead and an entire community destroyed. There are countless other examples – the Confederate massacre of Black prisoners at Fort Pillow during the Civil War, which left more than 300 people dead, for example.

I’m glad to see the massacre in Orlando added to this narrative – it’s much more palatable, for one thing, than being drafted into Franklin Graham’s holy war. The LGBTQ community – and QTPOC in particular – have seen this kind of violence framed as an “isolated incident” even though each instance is part of a campaign of violence and intimidation. It is much more common for homophobic and transphobic hate crimes to get the same level of coverage as James Wesley Howell – none.  There’s no trend here.  Nothing to see. 

And as always, violence against queer and trans people of color receives the least attention, the least outrage. When a trans woman of color is murdered, there’s no national response, no outcry on the Senate floor. The mass murder in Orlando far disproportionately affected QTPOC. This is true of homophobic and transphobic hate crimes in general, as well as homophobic and transphobic bias in law and policy, like the “bathroom laws” that will almost certainly single queer and trans people of color out for additional police scrutiny. Homophobia and transphobia in this country are profoundly racist cultural norms. 

Comparing this massacre to the massacre at Wounded Knee – or the massacre at Sand Creek, or the massacre in Tulsa, or the massacre at Fort Pillow, or any other example of annihilating violence – dignifies it. This is a call to action, not a dismissal, and I respect it. I’m grateful for it.