Why are you here?

Yet again another deadly shooting. 19 elementary school children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

Yet again more thoughts and prayers.?

Yet again.?

Today is May 25, the 145th day of the year. There have been 213 mass shootings in 2022, according to non-profit Gun Violence Archive. There are now more mass shootings this year than there have been days in 2022.?

Let that sink in.

In elementary schools, where children are supposed to be learning and growing.?

In grocery stores like the one in Buffalo, NY, where 13 victims, 11 of them Black, lost their lives on a Saturday afternoon. In places of worship.

Nowhere is safe.

Yet. Here we are. Once again. Confronting a pain that is all too familiar.?

But it doesn’t have to be this way.?

Just as economic inequality is a policy choice, gun control, or lack thereof, is also a policy choice.?

A choice made by those who have the power to change it yet choose not to.

A choice made by those who value gun rights above human lives.

A choice made by those who value gun lobbyists more than school children.

An active choice — to not do more to keep our kids safe. To be willing to stand by — offering nothing but empty words.

So it happens. Again. And again.

And we feel powerless to stop it.

Thoughts and prayers will not bring back the lives lost.

Thoughts and prayers will not mend the broken hearts of families torn by violence.

Innocent lives lost. In the name of rights of those who want to bear arms.?

But what about the rights of the children to live? What about the rights of their parents and grandparents to watch them graduate elementary school, middle school, or even high school? Is that too much to ask for? Did we not say, all lives matter??

Or is that only when it suits the rhetoric of the day??

Hypocrisy kills.

On Monday, the day before the shooting, I was talking to two friends about getting my son an Apple Watch for him to call home in case of emergency. I have a habit of always keeping my phone with me even when I go on stage, just in case we receive the dreaded phone calls.?

Because you never know if the goodbye kiss you have on your way out to the airport would have been the last goodbye.

Because this is the life we live in.?

Not because we live in a war zone.?

But because our country yields to those with money and power.?

This hits close to home. Too close.?

My daughter is a 4th grader. I can’t imagine the pain the parents and the communities are going through.

When schools are meant to be safe places, kids have to practice active shooter drills in case ‘bad people show up’, as my then first grader told me.

Imagine that.

It is both senseless and incomprehensible.

“It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity—it’s inhumanity.” ~ Amanda Gorman

For politicians who are so consumed with banning books and banning teaching about racial inequity in schools, if they were willing to channel that energy to solving gun violence and protecting our children, imagine the lives that could have been saved.?

There are more guns than there are people in the United States. Texas alone has the most registered guns, with 588,696. And we wonder why tragedies like Sandy Hook, Parkland, and Uvalde keep happening.

Books don't kill. Guns kill.?

“Why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority — if your answer is that as this slaughter increases, as our kids run for our lives, we do nothing?” ~ Senator Chris Murphy

And the responsibility extends beyond the government to the private sector.

As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Through lending to or investing in firearms manufacturers and sellers, financial institutions play a role in enabling the gun industry.

But we have an active choice. We can choose to become more socially responsible, like Amalgamated Bank.?

We can choose to commit to doing more.

Or not.?

Inaction is action.

And we have the power in our hands to stop the violence. If only we have the will.

Because one life is one too many.

Don’t get numb. Don’t look away.?

Don’t be the problem. Be part of the solution.?

Remember this feeling and use that to fuel your action.?

Vote to make a difference.?

Speak with your wallet and make it worthwhile for those who left us too early.?

Fight for those who can’t fend for themselves.?

This is not politics.?

This is not a red versus blue debate.

This is simply human.

So I ask: Why are you here?