The past year has been full of crazy and beautiful, shocking and mesmerizing news. The summer months leading up to this year of our education was a tumultuous one for our country and for the world. A number of events changed the course of history and the comfort of the American heart for good.
In May 28, 2016, American popular culture was thrown into a tailspin after the zoo killing of Harambe the gorilla. A 3-year-old child fell into the large ape’s enclosure, and the gorilla subsequently dragged the child around. After the zoo plunged into crisis mode, a team shot and killed the gorilla, returning the child safely to his mother. This fiasco garnered national media attention, leading to serious animal rights versus human life debate, and on a more comical side, social media erupted with innumerable jokes and memes that persist even today.
We then faced the horrific shooting at “The Pulse” nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Omar Mateen, a Florida native of Afghani parentage, opened fire in “Orlando’s premiere gay nightclub” in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 12, 2016 killing 49 and wounding 53 others. Pledging his allegiance to Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the 29-year-old perpetrated one of the largest and most disastrous shootings on American soil to date. While we watched the newsreel of the friends limping out of the club during the shooting, we soon cringed at the jargon being thrown around by government officials as they made it an election-year issue.
June 23, 2016 was a day of economic fear and rattling across the globe as “Brexit” was announced. This is the name for the referendum vote for Great Britain to leave the European Union. The following day, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced his resignation. A few weeks later, Theresa May was elected the next Prime Minister, highlighting the growing trends of conservatism in parts of Europe.
In early July, news broke that the FBI was launching an investigation into the email scandal surrounding Hillary Clinton’s time as Secretary of State during the Obama administration. FBI Director James Comey faced hours of questioning before the United States House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. While the political powers that be argued, the American people watched as the credibility and efficiency of an established politician was drowned in the mire of scandal. On another July evening, people turned on any news channel in the country to see the headline that said five police officers had been shot in a violent ambush in the Dallas area. An Army Reserve Afghan war veteran opened fired on Dallas police officers, citing his motive as being outraged at white police over the killing of black men. This is only one event in recent months that has joined a menagerie of violent protests, court cases and deaths.
In a global scale, we watched military coup fail to remove Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from power. With 300 dead and thousands wounded, several government buildings and the presidential palace were bombed as opposition to Erdogan argued against the repression of democratic activity, decline in human rights protections and disintegration of secularism.
Numerous attacks perpetrated by radical Islamic extremists throughout Europe plagued the summer months. Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Germany and Normandy. Most notable, however, was the attack carried out in Nice, France on July 14, France’s Bastille Day. After a terrorist deliberately drove a vehicle into a crowd of celebrating French people, the news soon confirmed 84 deaths.
Late July was the time for political party nominations. July 29 heralded the announcement that Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, making her the first woman to receive a major party nomination. July 21 brought the news that Donald J. Trump would be the Republican nominee for President. (This announcement came on my birthday!)
In August, America celebrated its many victories in the 2016 Summer Olympics that were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We earned the bragging rights to 46 gold medals, placing us first in the global medal count. While Ryan Lochte was causing world upset over a fake mugging, our own Michael Phelps later announced his retirement. However, he did so as the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals, 23 of them gold.
The summer of 2016 was definitely one for the books. The American people watched their smart phone notifications and television screens in rapture of the next event. Some was wonderful, some was bad and some was awful, but there are many things we can learn from our recent history. Be watchful and be aware, using our past to refine our future.
by Julie Williams, Copy editor
