There used to be an old saying: "Bullets don't have eyes" -- which means anyone can get hit by a bullet once it's fired from a gun.
When people think about gun violence in the black community, they normally think of gang violence and see the violence glamorized in rap music. What they don't see are the victims who don't live a gang life, like little Jada Page, the 8-year-old girl who was gunned down in yet another case of senseless gun violence affecting residents in Miami-Dade County. Read the story here.
While this case isn't sparking the outrage and national attention like the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, the residents in the black communities in Miami-Dade are living in fear.
They are looking to our legislators and law enforcement for help.
The gun violence affecting the black community in Miami-Dade is out of control, but it could be worse.
Much worse.
Imagine if Florida was an "open carry" state.
The combination of Stand Your Ground and open carry would prove to be deadly.
Open carry, as well as campus carry, passed the Florida House, just as we knew it would this last legislative session, due to the chamber's Republican make up.
Democratic legislators gave passionate pleas on the House floor, explaining why such bills would be devastating to Floridians as a whole, but especially to the black community. The pleas fell on deaf ears. The House majority didn't care.
In the upper chamber, in the Senate, one man did care: Miguel Diaz de la Portilla.
MDLP, as he is affectionately known, is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, he is a Republican and he can deny a hearing on any bill. Which is exactly what he did to open carry.
Who knows how many black lives he saved with that one act. Hell, who knows how many lives he saved period by stopping open carry AND campus carry.
Drunk Kids packing heat on campus is a scary thought for me. Drunk people openly carrying guns outside of bars is a scary thought for me.
Florida doesn't need to be the Wild, Wild West. Let crazy Texas keep that title.
Miguel Diaz de la Portilla is running for reelection in newly drawn Senate District 37 against Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez.
I know Democrats want to increase the party's number in the Legislature. We need to in order to balance the crazy that has gone on there for years. But that shouldn't start with MDLP. He has earned a return to Tallahassee.
For me, the SD 37 race isn't a partisan issue. This is a LIFE issue. It's rare these days to see a Florida Republican legislator willing to stand up to a special interest group as powerful as the NRA. The legislation that Sen. Diaz de la Portilla, a card carrying member of the NRA, stopped, potentially saved many black Floridians from becoming hashtags.
I don't know about you, but I'm tired of the hashtags.
Those bullets do NOT have eyes, but they seem to find people of color more often than not and they can hit you, your kids, your mothers, your fathers, your sisters, or your brothers.
While Jada Page's killer still hasn't been caught, there is a reward for his/her capture.
We can't play politics with our kids' lives. We NEED people in office who are willing and able to protect the lives of our kids, and right now, that person is Miguel Diaz de la Portilla.
In this case, to me, MDLP said that All Florida lives mattered to him, and black lives matter too!
One of the community activists I follow on Facebook, Tangela Sears, who founded the group Parents of Murdered Kids, said it best: When the parents whose kids have been murdered walk through the doors of her group, it isn't about Republican or Democrat. It is about justice for those kids.
Tangela is a Democrat, and she is supporting Miguel Diaz de la Portilla.
There is going to be a town hall very soon in the African American community in SD 37 on gun violence. We have to address the issues that affect us. Whether it is about black-on-black crime, police brutality, witness protection bills, or any of a number of issues, the discussion needs to be about how to decrease the violence and make the community better.
No one person can do it all, and no one party can do it alone. It is going to take a team effort, and if Miguel Diaz de la Portilla was willing to stand up for what was right, keeping open carry out of Florida, we should be willing to send him back to Tallahassee to KEEP open carry out of Florida.
There are some issues that are bigger than political parties, and right now, gun violence in the black community is one of those issues. Our people are dying in the streets. The time for lip service is over. If a legislator can show you results, which Miguel Diaz de la Portilla can, then you send him back to his office.
People are dying at a too-rapid pace to take chances. If we are serious about taking responsibility and taking action, then we won't just toe the party line. We will take the necessary steps to protect our kids, ourselves, and our community.
Leslie Wimes is founder and president of Women on the Move and the Democratic African American Women Caucus, www.daawc.com. Follow Leslie on Twitter: @womenonthemove1.
