Things seemed to get worse after Orlando.
Content Note: I keep flash off, so I don't know how many of these pages have autoplaying video of people being killed,and the hashtags often have images of bodies. Follow links carefully.
July 1st was the worst terrorist attack in the history of Bangladesh, when members of the Jamaeytul Mujahdeen took hostages for twelve hours; twenty-nine people were killed, including five of the six Bangladeshi men who took them hostage.
July 3rd, over three hundred people were killed in a Baghdad bombing targeting a Shi'ite area of the city; it was the deadliest bombing in Iraq this year. Some information about the slain was released, and Iraquis poured out their grief on the #NotJustANumber hashtag.
July 4th, Delrawn Small was shot after approaching an off duty police officer after an interaction on the road (surprisingly, the officer was stripped of his gun and badge after video evidence contradicted his statement).
July 5th, Anton Sterling was shot after being pinned down by police; Chris DeLay, the man who posted the video, was detained by police the next day.
July 6th, Philandro Castile was shot at a traffic stop; his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed and narrated the events while her child watched from the back seat. Reynolds and her daughter were taken into custody, separated, and held without food or water while police charged her phone and accessed her Facebook account, where the video she had posted had gone viral. Subsequent investigation revealed than he had been stopped 46 times in fifteen years, only six of those stops for things a police officer could see from outside of the car, and he was charged over 6000$ in fines.
On July 7th, a man angry about the deaths of other black men at the hands of police killed five officers after a peaceful, respectful #BlackLivesMatter march protesting the death of Anton Sterling. Ironically, and horrifyingly, Dallas' police force has been working hard over the past year to repair their relationship with those they serve.
Also on July 7th, 56 people were killed in a suicide bombing of Muhammad ibn Ali al-Hadi Mausoleum, an important Shi'ite Holy Site. Najih Shaker Al-Baldawi hugged one of the bombers, preventing him from entering the shrine and killing more people.
On July 14th, a man rammed a crowd in Nice, killing 84 people and injuring over three hundred more.
July 18th, Charles Kinsey was shot while trying to protect his Autistic client who was playing with a toy car in the street. The explanation for the shooting was that the officer was shooting at the client, whom Kinsey was trying without success to get to comply with police orders, and missed. Kinsey was subsequently handcuffed instead of given first aid by the people now claiming they wanted to protect him.
Yesterday, July 23rd, at least 80 people were killed by suicide bombers in Kabul; details are still pending, but once more Shi'ite's were targeted in the attack. I learned of this last attack when checking dates for all of the other deaths this month on Wikipedia's list of terrorist incidents in July, many of which I had no idea happened. For the details of the rash of shootings of black men this month, I used The Counted - a chilling database of police related deaths that you can search of divide up by demographics and details of the deaths.
I don't have anything to say outside of these facts. July has been full of blood, and bloodshed, and horror. Shi'ite's are being targeted on a mass scale by members of the same religion while people in the US rant on and on about how Islam is evil. Black men are being shot by the very people who I grew up believing should protect them, and just shy of being shot is the years of harassment and humiliation which make their lives more difficult than I can imagine.
One bright spot is a new website called Reparations, offering a chance for people to help others and make some amends for the centuries of inequality in the US. I also found that the North American Shia Ithna-Ashari Muslim Communities (NASIMCO) has a relief programs page you can scroll through to find ways to help out a wide variety of people, both in the US and abroad. And, at the very least, I hope we can all try to be more kind to each other. The world contains so much suffering and hate; I want some love to balance it out in some way.
( More pictures here. )
Credits:
Skin: Izzie's, Irene
Hair: Doe, Antonia
Eyes: .:Soul:.,
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Eyeshadow: NOX., Poison Shadow
Ears: .:Soul:., Uni
Lips: NOX., Liquid Lip
Wings: Deviance, Sidhe
Pet: Lassitude & Ennui, Gold Kitteh (Gacha Guardians)
Body: SLink, Hands & Feet
Nails: Bella Elephante, Rainbow Heart (Pulse)
Fireworks: Cole's Corner, Sizzling Sparklers
Outfit: Bare Rose, Blue White FeatherTre
Shoes: Cila, Ribbon Ballet Shoes
Pose: Grafica
Location: Gates of Melancholy
Windlight Settings: Places, Astryls Wild
Water Settings: TOR, Fantastruck
Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping
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