Rise Up, Mothers. It’s Time to End Gun Violence

Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee says it’s time to stand up and demand that we protect the children of the world from a culture of violence.

I read with dismay and immense pain in my heart and the pit of my stomach the horrific shooting and killing of 20 kids and 6 adults in Newtown, Conn.

Local residents attend a memorial service at the St. Rose Roman Catholic Church on December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Conn. (Robert Nickelsberg/Getty )

As a mother I can't begin to imagine the pain the parents of those children are going through. Young people who should have been future doctors, lawyers, peace builders, and even teachers are all gone too soon. Many questions will be asked, many fingers will be pointed at different sources.

Many questions come to my mind as I sit in my bedroom watching CNN and reading through every article on the subject at almost 3 a.m. in Africa. It's a place also where many mothers have lost their kids to larger scale gun violence, most recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where rebels took over Goma and Juba, and South Sudan, where protesters, predominantly students, protested land ownership.

Do we need all these guns to keep us safe?
Do we need to constantly stockpile weapons to show strength?
Haven't we learned that "no instrument of death can keep us safe?”
When will we learn that the proliferation of guns in any community is setting that community up for future disaster?

As America and the world mourn the death of these children and children in parts of the world that have died in gun-related violence I believe that now more than ever is the time for mothers to resist the culture of violence.

I believe it is upon the mothers of America now to raise their voices and oppose the gun culture. It is time for them to call on their leaders to pass stronger laws limiting access to guns. It is time for mothers of America to ensure that these kids death will began a new revolution opposing the "Crazy Gun” culture.

My sincere and heartfelt sympathy goes out to you all and my prayers are with you.

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Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, is co-winner of The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize and author of Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, published by Beast Books. As war ravaged Liberia, Leymah Gbowee realized it is women who bear the greatest burden in prolonged conflicts. She began organizing Christian and Muslim women to demonstrate together, founding Liberian Mass Action for Peace and launching protests and a sex strike. Gbowee’s work in helping to oust Charles Taylor was featured in the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell.

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Senator Daniel Inouye: September 7, 1924 - December 17, 2012

Daniel Ken "Dan" Inouye September 7, 1924-December 17, 2012) was the senior United States Senator from Hawaii, a member of the Democratic Party, and the President pro tempore of the United States Senate making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history.

Inouye was the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations.

A senator since 1963, Inouye was the most senior senator. He is also the second longest serving U.S. Senator in history after Robert Byrd. Inouye continuously represented Hawaii in the U.S. Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959, serving as Hawaii's first U.S. Representative and later a senator. Inouye was the first Japanese-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. At age 88, Inouye was the second-oldest current U.S. senator, after 88 year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. He was also a World War II Medal of Honor recipient.

Gas Prices Plunge to New 2012 Low

Gas prices have slid to the lowest prices of the year as an estimated 84 million Americans prepare to take a road tip by car this holiday season.

The national average retail gasoline price on Monday is the cheapest it has been during 2012 — just shy of $3.25 a gallon, according to AAA and Oil Price Information Service.

The national average price has dropped every day this month and has fallen 16 percent since mid-September. It is now at the lowest average price since Dec. 28, 2011, and only 4 cents shy of the December 2011 low of $3.206 a gallon.

"I believe we will go lower than that," said OPIS analyst Tom Kloza. "It's typical to get weaker prices at the end of the year."

Résultat résidanat Tunisie 2012

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