What Don’t We Get After 25 Years and 14 Dead? (the montreal massacre, 6 dec. 1989)
What Don’t We Get After 25 Years and 14 Dead?
I almost quit feminism this week. Seriously. I plummeted into despair over the mélange of hate that allows batterers like Ray Rice to return to the NFL, cops to kill with impunity and universities to give a pass to rapists. My intersectionality nerves were frayed by this host of racist, misogynist traumas. Feminism cannot make a dent in this insane world, I yawped into my morning oatmeal.
Then, Canada’s Minister of Justice, Peter MacKay, wrenched me and much of Canada out of a funk with his smug imbecility the week of the 25th anniversary of the biggest mass murder in Canadian history: the Montreal Massacre. MacKay set off a fusillade of fury when he told the House of Commons, “We may never understand what occurred, why this happened, why these women were singled out for this horrific act of violence.”
Here is what we know that the Minister of Justice seems not to know:
Marc Lepine was crystal clear on Dec. 6, 1989, when he strode into École Polytechnique, entered an engineering classroom, forced the men out with his Ruger Mini-14 and closed himself in with the remaining women students, claiming he was there to fight feminism, that he hated feminists.
Nathalie Provost recalls the day vividly. She was 23 years old, and she was in that classroom facing down that gun. “We are not feminists, [we are] just studying in an engineering school,” she retorted.
He shot her then, shot her classmates, stormed the building targeting women, killing 14 women and then himself. Provost took four bullets but survived. “I remember when I saw the eyes of one of my classmates,” she said. “She closed her eyes and I knew she was dead. I remember this image. It’s clear in my memory.”
. . . .
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/12/06/what-dont-we-get-after-25-years-and-14-dead/
