Reflections on the Tragedy in Uvalde

Last week, a white supremacist killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in an act of anti-Black terrorism. Yesterday, a gunman took the lives of 19 children and two teachers in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. And today, our country is again asking millions of children––including the 106,000 beautiful young people FoodCorps serves and holds in community––to enter spaces that feel, and far too often are, unsafe.

As a parent of children the age of those killed in Texas, I feel a stomach-turning fear. As a friend and colleague to members of the Black community and Latine community who lost so many precious lives in these tragedies, I feel grief and outrage. As the leader of a national service organization that asks our corps members to cultivate health and joy and justice in schools, I don’t know how we can be successful in that work until the conditions for basic bodily safety are in place across this country.

I know you are joining me today in mourning the losses no family should have to bear. But join me, also, in advocating alongside Moms Demand Action for the simple legislative actions that would save lives. State and federal lawmakers need to act immediately to enact gun safety laws to save our children’s lives. 

In grief,
Curt