Higher Heights Reacts to the Tragic Murder of 21 People in Uvalde, Texas

In response to yesterday’s tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, Higher Heights for America President & CEO Glynda Carr released the following statement:

“Today our hearts are broken and we grieve for the victims of the horrific act of senseless violence in Uvalde,Texas and for their families and friends. We stand in solidarity with this community. Once again, our children have fallen victim to a preventable tragedy at the hands of a political body who refuses to stand up for the safety and well-being of our citizenry. The time for thoughts and prayers has long passed – it is time for swift, decisive action. It is intolerable that our children are not safe in their schools and that none of us are safe in our churches, grocery stores or on our streets. The Higher Heights community is more committed than ever to work to ensure that lawmakers who protect our children and communities are elected and that they will push hard for stronger gun safety measures.

We need more champions, such as Congresswoman Lucy McBath (Ga.). Instead of delivering a joyous victory speech Tuesday night after her primary win, she turned her election party into a vigil and found herself reliving the pain of losing her teenage son, Jordan, a decade ago to gun violence and yet again mourning the murder of even more children, while forcefully criticizing senators for refusing to take up gun-control legislation that recently passed in the House.

‘Our babies are dying,’ she told reporters moments after her victory speech. ‘When our children are dying, what does that say about us as a nation of people? What does that say about our humanity that we are allowing … our children to die because we’re not willing to do the right thing.’

Our communities unfortunately know all too well the pain left by this type of violence and for decades Black women have been at the forefront of the fight for our lives as mothers and leaders of this movement. The time is now to elect leaders who are going to fulfill the oath they swore to protect the welfare of the American people.”

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