There are so many mass shootings that it is easy for Americans to become buried in the overload of senseless violence, but Vice President Kamala Harris is ensuring we don’t forget Uvalde.
Vice President Harris said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA on the one-year anniversary of the shooting:
Nevaeh. Jacklyn. Makenna. Jose. Eliahna. Uziyah. Amerie Jo. Xavier. Jayce. Tess. Maranda. Alithia. Annabell. Maite. Alexandria. Layla. Jailah. Eliahna. Rojelio. And their teachers, Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles.
Nineteen children and two educators who should be here with us today. They should still have birthdays to celebrate, graduations to plan, careers and lives to look forward to. Instead, one year ago today, they were killed in their elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in a mass shooting carried out with a weapon of war.
Today, our nation continues to mourn for those lost, to pray for their families who must bear the unbearable, and to grieve for a country in which violence like this – even in elementary school classrooms – is sickeningly common. One year after Uvalde, gun violence remains the leading cause of death for children in our nation. One in five Americans has lost a family member to gun violence.
Over the past year, so many Uvalde families have channeled their anguish into advocacy. Together, they demand that we act to save lives. With their help, President Biden signed the most significant gun safety legislation in 30 years and implemented important executive actions in the months since. But more must be done.
Today, Doug and I pray for the people of Uvalde. And we urge leaders in Congress and in state legislatures to meet this heartbreaking moment not just with words, but with action
Many of those who watched their local and state government betray them and engage in coverups after the Texas school shooting have joined the movement calling for action on the problem of gun violence.
The horrors of the Uvalde school shooting, just like Sandy Hook, Parkland, Nashville, and too many others to fully list are a reminder that no number of dead children will make Republicans end their mass shooter enabling obsruction.
Vice President Harris is using her platform to remind the nation about the lives lost, and those who seek change should use those memories as fuel to seek change.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
This story originally appeared on Politicususa
