"If you are silent about your pain, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it."
John, these words by the author Zora Neale Hurston, who was raised in Florida and set many of her greatest works there, have been sitting with me since last month's hate-fueled shooting in Jacksonville. I'm still struggling with what happened, but I refuse to keep that struggle to myself.
The shooting in Jacksonville was utterly devastating—but it was not surprising. We live in a country where it's all too easy for a white supremacist to obtain an AR-style weapon and then use it to inflict carnage upon the people he hates.
The guns everywhere agenda championed by the firearms industry and the lawmakers who put the gun lobby's interests over our lives has created this dystopian reality.
Taking on the culture of "guns everywhere" is not easy, but our movement is already a force to be reckoned with—and it's working. It's going to take policy changes at all levels of government, it's going to take the tireless work of our incredible grassroots volunteers, and it's going to take all of us sticking together to demand the change we need from our leaders.
If we're going to take on the gun lobby and the powerful politicians who support them, we need the resources to fight back. That's why from now through midnight this Friday, September 15, a group of generous donors has agreed to match all online donations up to $250,000 to Everytown Action Fund.
John, support our work for a future free from gun violence by making your matched donation today >>
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately by clicking one of the dollar amounts:
As devastating as the twin epidemics of white supremacy and gun violence are in this country, I refuse to believe they are inevitable. I know what can be accomplished when voices sing out in unison for change and a brighter tomorrow.
We will continue fighting to disarm hate in honor of the victims and survivors in Jacksonville and all hate-fueled gun violence. We won't stop until everyone in this country is truly "free"—and that means free from the threats of gun violence AND white supremacy.
Your generous support for our movement means so much. Thank you for being in this fight with me.
Angela Ferrell-Zabala
She/Her/Hers
Executive Director
Moms Demand Action
