Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, by now you've all heard of the terrible shooting that took place on Sunday during the Mother's Day parade in New Orleans. Like all Americans, I was saddened to once again see a joyous public event marred by gun violence. Yet, as the Mother's Day shooting unfolded in New Orleans, I was struck by another lesser known story about the toll of gun violence that was playing out more than 100 miles away in Chicago. It is the story of love and loss told by the mothers of those killed by gun violence who were facing Mother's Day without their children, perhaps for the first time. A group of these mothers gathered at a memorial outside a Chicago church to mourn and remember their children. As a mother who was blessed to spend the day with my children, their pain and anguish is unimaginable. For every mass shooting that grabs the headlines, there are dozens more that take place on America's streets every day that are leaving a lost generation in their wake. And yet, in the national debate about gun violence, these everyday killings, this slow-motion massacre is often overlooked. And so are the mothers who are left behind. Just as the mothers who wept for their children in Newtown, these Chicago mothers are also the faces of the aftermath of gun violence. Because whether your child is shot in the classroom or on a street corner or in a park, your hopes and dreams for them were the same, and so is the agony of your loss.…”