The holiday weekend’s smoke has cleared from the summer sky, but a different kind of haze lingers over cities like Columbus. It is the acrid aftermath of a celebration scarred by gunfire, a pall that hangs over communities trying to reconcile the promise of America’s birthday with the reality of its violence.

On the South Side at a house party that should have been filled with the sounds of summer, the life of 17-year-old Cameron Moore was extinguished. His death was one of at least six youth fatalities in a five-day span that saw 25 other young people wounded in shootings across America.

One of Ohio’s most common stigmas is that our drivers are amongst the worst in the nation.

And while data shows that the state’s motor vehicle deaths per capita are relatively low compared to the rest of the country, the empirical issue stems from a gradual increase in vehicular violence since 2013.

As an infant in Côte d'Ivoire (Currently known as Ivory Coast), Pierre Dupont knew nothing of the world except the arms of one woman who embraced him with tenderness and warmth: his nanny Aisha. She was more than just a maid. She was like a second mother, feeding him, rocking him, and holding him whenever he cried, showering him with unforgettable love. 

But fate separated them for 38 years. Pierre's family left for France, and all news of Aisha ceased. Years passed, Pierre grew up, studied, and moved on with his life, but something inside him remained there... in the arms of that kind woman with her tender smile and eyes filled with love. He didn't know where she was or if she was still alive but longing and gratitude drove him to begin a long and painful search. 

Whatever the outcomes of Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House on Monday and the latest scenario for a ceasefire in Gaza, a bilateral policy of genocide has united the Israeli and U.S. governments in a pact of literally breath-taking cruelty. That pact and its horrific consequences for Palestinian people either continue to shock Americans or gradually normalize indifference toward ongoing atrocities on a massive scale.