In May of this year, an 18-year-old with a gun locked himself in a classroom and killed 2 teachers and 19 students at a school in Uvalde, Texas.
Matthew and his wife visited the families of the Uvalde victims. They heard stories about the children who were killed, what they wanted to be when they grew up, and their hopes and dreams which will never be realized.
The man did more than listen. He took action. They traveled to Washington, D.C. He spoke from the podium at the White House press briefing room after meeting with President Joe Biden.
In his 20-minute speech at the White House, he urged lawmakers to look past their political party affiliation and come together to take action. He said that grieving families want the loss of their children’s lives to make a difference. He asked, “How can the loss of these lives matter?”
You can watch the video below to hear excerpts from the speech.
In his speech, he talked about how he heard about the shooting in his hometown. He explained, “I had been out of cellular range working in the studio all day when I emerged and messages about a mass shooting in the town I was born in began flooding my inbox. In a bit of shock, I drove home, hugged my children a bit tighter and longer than the night before, and then the reality of what had happened that day in the town I was born in set in.” The very next day, he and his family “loaded up the truck and drove to Uvalde. And when we arrived a few hours later, I got to tell you, even from the inside of our vehicle, you could feel the shock in the town. You could feel the pain, the denial, the disillusion, anger, blame, sadness, loss of lives, dreams halted.”
Do you think lawmakers will be able to come together to make a change that will make a difference in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting?