Watching The Watchers

The Washington Post published a photograph of a DC police photographer taking a photograph of the newspaper's(?) photographer at the scene of Friday's self-immolation.

Capitol Hill Violence: Miriam, Biblical Sister of Aaron

Washington D.C. has been hit by another shooting incident that captured the media's attention. The US Navy Yard shooting left 12 dead and the gunman, Aaron Alexis.

Today something more bizarre occurred.

NBC reports:

A woman who tried to force her car through a White House security fence Thursday afternoon was shot and killed by police after a 12-block chase past the Capitol, which was locked down for a half-hour, authorities said.
The suspect — a dental hygienist with a history of mental issues, according to sources — had a 1-year-old child with her who was not hurt, police said.
One Secret Service officer was struck by the woman's car, and a Capitol Police officer was injured when he slammed into a barricade during the pursuit.
The U.S. Capitol was placed on lockdown following a car chase and shooting involving a woman who attempted to ram the White House gates.
All the shots fired came from the officers involved in the pursuit, and the woman — identified as Miriam Carey, 34, of Stamford, Conn. — did not have a gun, law-enforcement sources said.

The woman seemed to be doing the unthinkable.

The Washington Post tried to understand what had happened.

Her sister, Amy Carey, a Brooklyn nurse, was incredulous when she was reached Thursday afternoon and told what had happened outside the Capitol.
“That’s impossible. She works, she holds a job,” said Amy Carey, who confirmed that her Stamford-based sister drove a black car. She said she knew of nothing that would bring her sister to Washington. “She wouldn’t be in D.C. She was just in Connecticut two days ago, I spoke to her. . . . I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t answer any more.”

S. Hunter notes, "both Miriam and Aaron openly claimed they were being stalked by government officials."

Aaron Alexis was arrested in Seattle in 2004 for shooting out the tires on an individual's vehicle." Miriam Carey's tires had recently been slashed in an incident in Connecticut, shares correspondent Hunter.

What does the woman's name Miriam Carey mean?

Miriam is the original Hebrew form of Mary. It is used in the Old Testament, where it belongs to the elder sister of Moses and Aaron. It has long been popular among Jews, and it has been used as an English Christian name since the Protestant Reformation.

Carey is from an Irish surname which was derived from Ó Ciardha meaning "descendent of Ciardha," derived from Irish ciar "black".

A black woman in a black car with a black name attacking the White House of our first black president?

For several incidents of late, as in this one, AfricanAmericans have been the foci. 

There are no coincidences.

++++

After years of workplace shootings and "random" acts of mass violence in schools, malls, and other settings being linked to "lone nut" Caucasian males, we have entered a period of intense media attention to African-American/black individuals being involved.

June 21, 2013 ~ Lakim Faust (African-American shooter)

August 19, 2013 ~ Michael Brandon Hill (Caucasian shooter) targets African-American school, formerly named after George Washington Carver, which was renamed after Ron McNair (who went to another Carver HS)

August 30, 2013 ~ Christopher Lamont Richardson Jr. (African-American) targets Carver HS, a traditional African-American HS

September 1, 2013 ~ Daquan Breland and Daquan Wright (African-American shooters) kill African-American infant

September 4, 2013 ~ Hispanics target African-Americans, kill Joshua Broussard

September 16, 2013 ~ Aaron Alexis (African-American shooter) kills 12 (see also here)

Carvers and McNairs: The Name Game Rolls On

Discussing Decatur, I mentioned recently there might be some school shootings with the opening of the new academic year. Decatur weirdness continues, as AWG has alerted me.

But shootings are in our radar for now, for some school districts began last week. For most, the school year will officially start this Wednesday, September 3.

What did occur is that a shooting did take place on August 30 - exactly ten days after the Decatur event. What it highlighted, for our twilight language purposes, was an intriguing circular "coincidence" – namewise.

Christopher Lamont Richardson Jr. was arrested last Friday and charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of firearm on school property, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, and discharging a firearm within city limits. (Please note, the alleged gunman's middle name is Lamont and that means "law man.")

Officers responded to a report of a shooting of one student by another, suspect Richardson, around 2:30 p.m. August 30, at Carver High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Police say the school had been conducting a fire drill when a school resource officer heard shots fired.

A 15-year-old student was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

Now some name games from this most recent event link to the Decatur drama.

The high school name – Carver – links to the previous school incident in Decatur, Georgia. (Carver means sculptor or one who carves, quite naturally.)

The August 20th incident's Decatur high school name, you will recall, was the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy.

(McNair is an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Iain Uidhir "son of sallow John." This form is associated mainly with Ross-shire. Another meaning comes from the Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Oighre "son of the heir.")

The late AfricanAmerican astronaut Ronald E. McNair attended Carver High School, in Lake City, South Carolina. He graduated as the valedictorian of his class. Carver High School became Lake City Junior High School when integration occurred and students of Carver High and J. Paul Truluck High combined into Lake City High. The school later became Ronald E. McNair Junior High to honor the astronaut, and then later the student body changed and it was renamed Ronald E. McNair Middle School.

The 1948 stamp honoring Carver.

These schools, like many historical black/AfricanAmerican schools in the American South, were or are named after George Washington Carver. Carver (alive by January 1864 – deceased on January 5, 1943), was an AfricanAmerican scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor. The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864. George Washington Carver reputedly discovered three hundred uses for peanuts and hundreds more for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes.

As you can see, this tale of three schools overlap in their journeys among the Carvers and McNairs. What all this means, of course, lies beyond perhaps even human understanding.

That Michael Brandon Hill (the shooter in the recent Decatur event) might have intertwined with the power names of Jim Brandon of Rebirth of Pan fame, of course, was merely a "coincidence."

(Thanks to Rob S. for an idea.)