John,
Today, I'm thinking of all those impacted by yet another senseless mass shooting. Just days after we lost 10 people in a racist attack in Buffalo, 19 children and two adults were killed in Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
My heart goes out to the students, families, and Uvalde community. The trauma and loss young children face today is devastating.
We should all be sickened by the complicity of US politicians and special interests who forfeit our lives for their power and profit — who've decided the lives of children in schools, Black shoppers in a grocery store, and parishioners in a church or synagogue are worth less than a campaign contribution.
This isn't normal, and there are solutions.
The first step is to call out any politician who refuses to take common-sense action to protect Americans from unnecessary gun violence, and relieve them of their positions. We don't need the guilty conscience prayers of people with power who refuse to save lives. We don't elect leaders because we think their prayers are more powerful. We elect them because we expect them to protect our communities.
We don't need any more leaders who refuse to take action to save lives.
In 2018, when I first ran for the State House, students at Woodland Hills High School invited me to a rally against gun violence. In the middle of the old school gym, they had about 15 empty chairs, for the number of kids who had died at the hands of gun violence in the last four years.
I heard about their need for counselors, wrap-around services, afterschool programs, and anyone to invest in caring for them at all. The students knew what they needed, but time and time again politicians ignored their lives for a quick buck from the gun lobby.
In Congress, I'll center the needs of those most impacted by gun violence. The future is in our hands, and we must work together to do everything we can to protect our country, our community, and our kids from this violence that politicians have let become all too normal.
Summer Lee
