Six people lost their lives in a mass shooting during the 4th of July parade that was taking place in the Chicago suburbs, according to the authorities.
In the late afternoon, Grammy winner Bette Midler switched to condemning the mass shooting that took place in Highland Park, leaving six dead and more than 24 wounded.
In a series of tweets, Bette Midler expressed her anger at the government and the system, and how “you can’t even go celebrate the 4th of July without being gunned down.”
Man, you can’t even go to a fucking 4th of July parade without getting gunned down. What a pathetic excuse for a nation; that lets its people die who are just trying to live.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 4, 2022
Midler was so enraged about the mass shooting that the artist updated her Twitter bio and now it reads:
“WE LOVE OUR GUNS MORE THAN OUR CHILDREN, OUR FAMILIES, OUR FRIENDS, OUR NATION AND OUR WORLD. WITHOUT OUR GUNS WE ARE NOTHING.”
She went on to reshare a tweet that showed the crowd fleeing from the shooting and went on to mock how the Americans are “The Greatest Nation on Earth” and yet this is how they live. She demanded how long it’ll take the citizens to put down their foot:
They tell us we are citizens of “The Greatest Nation on Earth”, yet this is how we have to live…what a joke. why do we stand for it? Who are we? Are we ultimately just mice? When are we going to say “Enough”? https://t.co/m7AinWvSX4
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 5, 2022
Midler shared a screenshot of Arianna Huffington’s tweet in which the latter talked about how the Supreme Court’s mind worked during the week specifically when it comes to abortion rights and mass shootings:
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 5, 2022
The Hocus Pocus actress also shared Chicago Sun Times news reporting the incident at Highland Park that took the lives of 6 people and injured more than 2 dozen people, she wrote in all caps, “IT’S THE GUNS, STUPID!”:
IT’S THE GUNS, STUPID!Highland Park Fourth of July parade mass shooting 6 dead, more than 2 dozen hospitalized; shooter sought – Chicago Sun-Times https://t.co/elgfKAvnn1
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 4, 2022
Bette Midler retweeted US Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar)’s statement regarding the Highland Park mass shooting as she stated only the trained military should handle these weapons:
More kids’ bicycles strewn in a sidewalk, grandparents lost, blood in the streets.
Enough. I have long advocated for the assault weapons ban. These weapons belong in the hands of trained military, not madmen.
— Amy Klobuchar (@amyklobuchar) July 5, 2022
The “From a Distance” singer who’s known for being outspoken, shared a mocking message on Sunday saying canceling Independence Day due to a “shortage of independence.”
Ever since the Roe v. Wade ruling was announced, the actress has been quite vocal about sharing her stance on abortion rights. Following that she shared the message for her fans on Twitter loud and clear.
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 2, 2022
In the comment section of her tweet, people weighed their two cents by arguing for both sides of the matter. While some appreciated her words and joined in her cause of boycotting the holiday, others claimed that she’s missing the whole point of Independence Day as she wouldn’t have been able to voice her thoughts so freely.
A day prior, Bette Midler was seen calling out women around the world regarding the stripping of abortion rights and taking control of women’s bodies. She demanded not to give in to such people as “every human on earth owes you!”:
WOMEN OF THE WORLD! We are being stripped of our rights over our bodies, our lives and even of our name! They don’t call us “women” anymore; they call us “birthing people” or “menstruators”, and even “people with vaginas”! Don’t let them erase you! Every human on earth owes you!
— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 4, 2022
Midler practically set Twitter on fire after her own declaration of independence as a woke person who knew where her loyalties lie.
For the rest of the afternoon, Midler’s name, “Bette” was trending as people were weighing in their takes regarding her stance; her realization that women are being erased thanks to the political madness across the country.
Other people called her a “traitor” and a “TERF.” However, Midler seemed to have touched a nerve of the transgender community as well as the women called out Midler for her so-called “inclusivity” and what may be the consequences of her taking the matter lightly.
Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera (@PantiBliss) replied to Bette Midler not to spread the anti-trans panic and that “no one’s erasing women”:
No. Don’t fall for the anti-trans panic fake nonsense. No one is erasing women. In a few small healthcare cases where appropriate they are using trans inclusive language. That’s all.
— Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera (@PantiBliss) July 4, 2022
Whereas Anya Palmer (@anyabike) was quick to point out to Dr. Panti that “its not anti-trans to know that only women can give birth”:
It is not “anti-trans” to know that only women can give birth, or to refuse to change our language, our words, like “woman”, and “mother”, to placate a tiny minority who believe it is possible to change sex. Stop accusing people of hate for not subscribing to your religion.
— Anya Palmer (@anyabike) July 4, 2022
It was a dark day for the people present at Highland Park, Chicago, Illinois as Robert “Bobby” E Crimo III shot up 6 people and injured more than 24. He was arrested as a person of interest by the police for firing during the 4th of July parade. The man has been on FBI, North Chicago’s “Wanted” list and was driving around in a Honda Fit.
Bobby surrendered himself after a short pursuit. The officials pursued him on foot when they spotted a sniper at the scene.
As a result of Bobby’s mass killing five out of six people died instantly whereas one died in the hospital. Mayor Nancy Rotering commented on the incident by stating:
“This is a terribly difficult day, and the bloodiest that we have experienced in Highland Park. We are fortunate to be supported by our law enforcement community and Federal, State, County, and local government officials.”
She also went on to say:
“Our community, like so many before us, is devastated. It’s impossible to imagine the pain of this kind of tragedy until you’re confronted with it.”
The mass shooting is not the first to paint the country in red. Previously, there have been incidents in Buffalo and Uvalde that left a number of people dead. A mass shooting like this portrays gun violence in the worst of ways by exposing a wider net of agony to the public.
So far, more than 1.4 million people have died from firearms in the U.S between 1968 and 2011 (Source: Wikipedia). In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died due to gun violence either by suicide or homicide, also a record more than any other year (Source: BBC).
In the past week, celebrities have called out the government for banning abortion rights instead of banning guns as the latter doesn’t seem to be a pressing matter but controlling women’s rights has been. After the Uvalde school shooting, John Mellencamp went ballistic at the politicians for the new gun legislature and how they continue to do nothing as they don’t give a f— about the people of America.
Chris Mack
