Routine Shootings at US Schools and Universities Megathread.

[The Larch]

I believe that some other Mesoamerican tribes actually allied with the Spaniards because of the Aztec's fondness for human sacrifices.

Although I think most other Mesoamerican cultures practiced human sacrifices. I think it was less that they were unhappy with the idea and more than they weren't happy being sacrificed, which is fair enough.

Human sacrifice was definitely widespread in the region, but there was a sliding scale on how often it was resorted to, and AFAIK the Aztecs were definitely in the bloodthirstier end of the scale, as they were a very agressive conquering nation and prisoners of war were one of the largest sources for sacrifices. Mesoamerican cultures also had differents kinds of war, so besides regular wars of conquest or raiding they also had what were called "Flower wars", which were ritualistic in nature and waged between rival cities as an attempt to placate the gods after a natural disaster or a bad harvest or somesuch.

Before the arrival of Cortés the tribes of Central Mexico had been waging an on and off Flower War for like 65 years, during which the Aztecs routinely bullied their neighbouring city states, like Tlaxcala, Texcoco, Cholula and others. When the Spaniards entered the picture, some of these city states that were rivals of the Aztecs joined Cortés in order to take the Aztecs out, and for instance the bulk of Cortes' army was composed of Tlaxcalan warriors.

Regarding how commonplace human sacrifice was, there's even a (of course) rather gory legend about a princess from a neighbouring city that the Aztecs sacrificed in a misunderstanding between the ruling chieftains. In case you want to know the details... 

Obeying the promptings of Huitzilopochtli's priests, they had approached Achitometl, one of the Culhua magnates, asking for his beautiful daughter as their "sovereign" and "wife of Huitzilopochtli". Not understanding the implications of this request, Achitometl acceded to the honour; his daughter went to Tizaapan, where she was splendidly arrayed and sacrificed. Following an old custom, the body was flayed and a priest donned her skin in an ancient agricultural rite symbolising the renewal of life. The unsuspecting chieftain Achitometl, invited to participate in the concluding festivities, suddenly recognised the skin of his daughter on the body of the priest. The outraged Culhua took arms and were joined by others and, in the wild melee of javelins and arrows, the Mexica were once again driven into the reeds and brackish swamps of Lake Tezcoco.

I remember chatting with a woman who was a little annoyed at how modern Mexico had adopted Aztec symbols and there's lots about them especially in Mexico City. But she's Zapotec and they were conquered by the Aztecs and that's alsoo part of the story that I think she felt was a bit missing.

Yes, picking the Aztecs as the sole representatives of Mexico's native past is a disservice to its huge diversity and how divided the region was before the arrival of the Spanish. There's for instance a historical character, "La Malinche", which has been vilified because of this. She was an enslaved Nahua woman who was given as a gift/tribute (together with 19 others) to Cortés and his men by one of the first native tribes they defeated. She then became Cortés consort/lover/advisor, and acted as his translator in his negotiations and diplomacy with the local tribes. Traditionally she had been presented as some sort of mother figure for modern Mexico, as the son she had with Cortés was probably one of the very first mixed race "mestizos" that went on to populate the country, but nowadays in Mexico and other parts of Latin America the term "Malinchism" denotes a "race traitor" of some kind, somebody who hates who they are and has an inferiority complex because of it, and thus looks towards other countries (historically Europe, nowadays the US) for their identity while renouncing their roots.

[Josephus]

This thread's suddenly gone all Languish like.

[The Larch]

This thread's suddenly gone all Languish like.

We can't help it... 

[Sheilbh]

Yeah I think Malinche came up in basically every museum (in Mexico City) and never in a very flattering way. Very much betrayer and cause of disaster - I think there's possibly also a bit of sexism/misogyny in that blaming the woman but maybe not

So I think the mother of the nation reputation is definitely gone now.

[Valmy]

You have to admit that is kind of an unfair accusation to make to a slave.

Mexica is just another term for Aztec is it not? So not too surprising they are seen as the true Mexicans.

[Oexmelin]

Camilla Townshend has written a long book rehabilitating the figure of Malinche - if nothing else in its complexity.

She really is a fascinating figure.

[grumbler]

Camilla Townshend has written a long book rehabilitating the figure of Malinche - if nothing else in its complexity.

She really is a fascinating figure.

I've used her case a number of times in my AP World History class.  Her story is a classic example of how many people's conclusions about her are/were based on the filters through which one examines her story.  Bias is present in all historical accounts, but her case is one of the most clear-cut examples of "where you end up depends on where you started."

[Tonitrus]

While the Mesoamericans were engaging in human sacrifice, Euros were still burning heretics and witches...birds of a feather it seems to me.

[Razgovory]

What makes you think that the Mesoamericans weren't killing witches?

[Iormlund]

The Mexican Inquisition very rarely got involved with natives.

All in all it executed maybe 50 people in 250 years, mostly marranos (former Jews who secretly still followed Judaism).

[Sheilbh]

While the Mesoamericans were engaging in human sacrifice, Euros were still burning heretics and witches...birds of a feather it seems to me.

Fair - although because they're already so tarnished by the black legend, worth noting the Spanish didn't really go into witch-burning.

That is very much an Anglo-world and German specialism - and particularly in Protestant areas. Maybe it's because the Catholic world in general had very real threats within - heretics and crypto-Protestants; and in Spain that role was played by conversos. The Protestant world didn't have those actual communities to be scapegoated, so blamed women.

[The Larch]

While the Mesoamericans were engaging in human sacrifice, Euros were still burning heretics and witches...birds of a feather it seems to me.

Fair - although because they're already so tarnished by the black legend, worth noting the Spanish didn't really go into witch-burning.

That is very much an Anglo-world and German specialism - and particularly in Protestant areas. Maybe it's because the Catholic world in general had very real threats within - heretics and crypto-Protestants; and in Spain that role was played by conversos. The Protestant world didn't have those actual communities to be scapegoated, so blamed women.

In fact the Spanish Inquisition had some remarkably liberal guidelines for witch trials.

In December 1525, the Spanish Inquisition issued guidelines in how to deal with witch trials. The guidelines cautioned skepticism against spells, which caused most accusations and death sentences, banned the confiscation of the property of anyone condemned for witchcraft, reserved for the Inquisition the right to try witches, and paid more attention to "re-educating" witches rather than issuing death sentences.

[Valmy]

While the Mesoamericans were engaging in human sacrifice, Euros were still burning heretics and witches...birds of a feather it seems to me.

Fair - although because they're already so tarnished by the black legend, worth noting the Spanish didn't really go into witch-burning.

That is very much an Anglo-world and German specialism - and particularly in Protestant areas. Maybe it's because the Catholic world in general had very real threats within - heretics and crypto-Protestants; and in Spain that role was played by conversos. The Protestant world didn't have those actual communities to be scapegoated, so blamed women.

In the Orthodox world men usually got burned as witches. So yeah it was definitely a regional deal.

[Syt]

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/04/06/gun-deaths-among-us-kids-rose-50-percent-in-two-years/?stream=top

Gun deaths among U.S. children and teens rose 50% in two years

The number of children and teens killed by gunfire in the United States increased 50% between 2019 and 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the latest annual mortality statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, there were 1,732 gun deaths among U.S. children and teens under the age of 18. By 2021, that figure had increased to 2,590.

The gun death rate among children and teens – a measure that adjusts for changes in the nation's population – rose from 2.4 fatalities per 100,000 minor residents in 2019 to 3.5 per 100,000 two years later, a 46% increase.

Both the number and rate of children and teens killed by gunfire in 2021 were higher than at any point since at least 1999, the earliest year for which information about those younger than 18 is available in the CDC's mortality database.

The rise in gun deaths among children and teens is part of a broader recent increase in firearm deaths among Americans overall. In 2021, there were 48,830 gun deaths among Americans of all ages – by far the highest yearly total on record and up 23% from the 39,707 recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.

The total number of gun deaths among children and teens in 2021 includes homicides, suicides, accidents and all other categories where firearms are listed on death certificates as the underlying cause of death. It does not include deaths where firearms are listed as a contributing, but not underlying, cause of death.

Homicide was the largest single category of gun deaths among children and teens in 2021, accounting for 60% of the total that year. It was followed by suicide at 32% and accidents at 5%. Among U.S. adults, by contrast, suicides accounted for a 55% majority of gun deaths in 2021.

In addition to data on gun fatalities, the CDC publishes estimates on nonfatal gun-related injuries sustained by children and teens. In 2020 – the most recent year with available data – there were more than 11,000 emergency-room visits for gunshot injuries among children and teens under the age of 18 – far higher than in other recent years. An exact count is not possible, however, because the CDC's estimate is based on a sample of U.S. hospitals, not all U.S. hospitals, and is subject to a large margin of error.

In the U.S., some groups of children and teens are far more likely than others to die by gunfire. Boys, for example, accounted for 83% of all gun deaths among children and teens in 2021. Girls accounted for 17%.

Older children and teens are much more likely than younger kids to be killed in gun-related incidents. Those ages 12 to 17 accounted for 86% of all gun deaths among children and teens in 2021, while those 6 to 11 accounted for 7% of the total, as did those 5 and under. Still, there were 179 gun deaths among children ages 6 to 11 and 184 among those 5 and under in 2021.

For all three age groups, homicide was the leading type of gun death in 2021. But suicides accounted for a significant share (36%) of gun deaths among those ages 12 to 17, while accidents accounted for a sizable share (34%) of gun deaths among those 5 and under.

Racial and ethnic differences in gun deaths among kids are stark. In 2021, 46% of all gun deaths among children and teens involved Black victims, even though only 14% of the U.S. under-18 population that year was Black. Much smaller shares of gun deaths among children and teens in 2021 involved White (32%), Hispanic (17%) and Asian (1%) victims.

Looked at another way, Black children and teens were roughly five times as likely as their White counterparts to die from gunfire in 2021. There were 11.8 gun deaths per 100,000 Black children and teens that year, compared with 2.3 gun deaths per 100,000 White children and teens. The gun death rate among Hispanic children and teens was also 2.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, while it was lower among Asian children and teens (0.9 per 100,000).

There are also major racial and ethnic differences in the types of gun deaths involving children and teens. In 2021, a large majority of gun deaths involving Black children and teens (84%) were homicides, while 9% were suicides. Among White children and teens, by contrast, the majority of gun deaths (66%) were suicides, while a much smaller share (24%) were homicides.

In this analysis, Black, White and Asian children and teens include only those who are single-race and not Hispanic, while Hispanic children and teens are of any race.

A sizable share of American parents are worried about their kids getting shot. In a fall 2022 Pew Research Center survey, 22% of parents with children under 18 said they were extremely or very worried about any of their children getting shot at some point, while another 23% said they were somewhat worried. Still, more than half said they were not worried about this.

The survey found demographic differences in these concerns. Around four-in-ten Hispanic parents (42%) and about a third of Black parents (32%) said they were extremely or very worried about their children getting shot, compared with smaller shares of Asian (23%) and White (12%) parents.

Parents in self-described urban communities (35%) were considerably more likely than those in rural (19%) or suburban (17%) areas to be extremely or very worried about any of their children being shot. And lower-income parents (40%) were far more likely than middle-income (16%) and upper-income (10%) parents to be extremely or very worried.

Partisan differences were evident, too. Democratic and Democratic-leaning parents were roughly twice as likely as Republican and Republican-leaning parents to say they were extremely or very worried about their children getting shot at some point (27% vs. 14%).

[Jacob]

Not at a school, but still egregious...

16-year old boy goes to pick up his brother in Kansas City. Knocks on the door of the wrong house and is shot several times. Passed away from his injuries a few days later.