My GHEA Rocks!

I’m seething, Friend. Yesterday morning we awoke again to the horror of mass murder. My sorrow for those mourning the loss of their family and friends in Gilroy, El Paso, and Dayton, is matched only by my anger at the elected officials again offering thoughts, prayers, and nothing else. Enough is enough, Friend. The time to act has come over and over again! Congress must return from recess now to take action on gun violence. Send an email to your senators today. Gun violence has become so familiar that many educators can recite these facts by heart. Firearms are the second-leading cause of death among American children, and the leading cause of death among African-American children. There were 14,769 deaths from guns in the United States last year, excluding suicide.  There were 340 mass shootings in 2018, more than one per day. Students head back to their classrooms this month worrying and wondering if this will be the year tragedy strikes their schools. This fear is exacerbated by the violent, racially motivated rhetoric President Trump and his supporters have adopted as their modus operandi. And their words will only spurn more hate and more violence. It doesn’t have to be this way. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can take up S.42 to expand background checks and close gun sale loopholes at any time. It is what we are demanding he do today, but it is only the first of many steps Congress must take to keep schools and communities safe. It’s also a step that will not be easy to come by. It requires a massive effort to make Senator McConnell listen. We all must say with one voice that we will not put up with inaction anymore. Tell your senators to return to Washington, D.C., and demand S.42 be immediately taken up in the Senate. Thank you, Lily Eskelsen García President National Education Association