4 August 2019
This weekend, we are once again brought to grief and sorrow over horrific mass shootings in America. The nightmare of gun violence struck early Sunday morning in an entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio, where a young man in body armor wielded an AK-47-style assault rifle, killing at least nine people and wounding 27. The dead included the shooter’s sister.
The tragedy in Dayton came less than 15 hours after the weekend’s first gun massacre, an act of domestic terrorism in which another young man with body armor and an assault rifle entered a Wal-mart in El Paso, Texas, killing 20 people and wounding more than two dozen. In a manifesto attributed to the shooter, he railed against immigrants and warned of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
To those affected by these violent acts, we extend our deepest sympathies. Today we learned from Mexico’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, that six Mexicans are among the dead in El Paso. We stand in solidarity with him and all others condemning this massacre as an act of terrorism. We call on the U.S. government and Department of Justice to cooperate with those investigating this incident as an act of terrorism and support efforts to obtain all necessary legal evidence.
President Trump declared today that “hate has no place in our country.” We challenge the president to live up to his words and stop the hateful, racist rhetoric he has returned to time and again in his campaign and in his presidency. We urge the president to call out and condemn white supremacist terrorism in the same way that he has seized upon and condemned radical Islam. And we call on Congress to finally enact sensible gun reforms that a majority of Americans support. Let’s end this cycle of shock, grief, and rage once and for all.
Democrats Abroad Mexico
