Team,

One year ago in El Paso, a hateful, heavily-armed man murdered 23 people in an attack on the Latino community.

I'm asking you to join me in saying the names of those we lost and honoring their memories. Read their names slowly, and take the time to remember that each person listed here was a human being with a family, dreams, and a future that was stolen from them.

Jordan Jamrowski Anchondo. Andre Anchondo. Arturo Benavides. Javier Amir Rodriguez. Leo Cimpeda Campos. Maribel Hernandez. David Johnson. Angie Silva-Englisbee. Maria Flores. Raul Flores. Elsa Marquez. Luis Alfonzo Juarez. Margie Reckard. Guillermo "Memo" Garcia. Sara Esther Regalado Moriel. Adolfo Cerros Hernández. Jorge Calvillo García. Elsa Mendoza Marquez. Gloria Irma Márquez. María Eugenia Legarreta Rothe. Juan de Dios Velázquez Chairez. Ivan Filiberto Manzano. Teresa Sanchez. Alexander Gerhard Hoffman.

This attack on the Latino community was fueled by white supremacist ideology. A year ago, I called on our elected leaders who amplify white nationalist rhetoric to take ownership of the impact of their words and reverse course immediately. Today, I see no change.

And when radicalized, hateful people can buy a weapon of war more easily than they can get a fishing permit, something is seriously wrong. I can't imagine the horror so many experienced that day, many of them Hispanic families on their back-to-school shopping trips. I'm a mom of two small kids, and it devastates me to even think of. We deserve a world in which our families can go shopping, to the movies, to a festival, and to school without fearing they'll lose their lives to gun violence.

But after the shooting in El Paso, Senator Cornyn said that there are some issues for which "we simply don't have all the answers." We do have answers. What we don't have is leaders with the courage to defy the gun lobby and their party bosses to take action.

Just two weeks later, Sen. Cornyn took a check from the NRA. Then, he refused yet again to take action on universal background checks. His political allies said the issue just didn't come up in their meeting. It just didn't come up. After 23 people died in a mass shooting in our state.

I have called on Sen. Cornyn as a constituent, as a gun owner, and as a mother to pass common-sense gun safety reforms to prevent more tragedies in Texas and in America -- but he will not listen. His ears are plugged up with money from the gun lobby. That's why we need to elect a new senator for Texas -- one who doesn't value campaign cash over their constituents' lives.

Hate will not overcome us. We are Texas. We are strong, and we won't be divided. Today, we honor the lives of those who died in El Paso, the pain of those who were injured, the strength of the Latino community targeted by this attack, and the heartbreak of their families and community. Tomorrow, we keep up the fight.

-- MJ