Center for Popular Democracy Action: In The Wake Of Another School Shooting, It’s Time to Put Children Before Corporate Profits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 25, 2022

Contact: danielle@newheightscommunications.com 

“The mass violence in Buffalo and Uvalde illuminate the disposability of lives of color to our white leadership, who have ample opportunity to prevent these tragedies”

WASHINGTON, DC –  Co-Executive Director of the Center for Popular Democracy Action Analilia Mejia released the following statement in response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, yesterday: 

“As a Latina mother of two Black boys, my heart is shattered at the needless loss of promising lives in Uvalde, Texas, this time 19 children and two educators they loved. Today, we are in deep mourning and rage at once. 

“Make no mistake: we live in a country in which our elected leaders prioritize the money and influence of arms dealers over the lives of our kids. Our elected leaders cling to capitalism and accept white supremacy at the expense of us all. They dehumanize and demonize us to protect the profits of the powerful, time and time again.

“We have no choice but to get angry, get mobilized, and to mourn through action in the streets, in the courts, and in our schools until our communities are safe and our children can thrive. 

“We must be clear that the twin tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde, just days apart, cannot be extricated from the long history of racist oppression upon which this nation was built. It is the pervasive ideology of racial capitalism at the highest levels of government that allows unfettered access to assault rifles for violent bad actors while communities of color struggle to access healthcare, housing, economic stability, and live daily in fear of state violence and abandonment. 

“What we cannot do at this moment is perpetuate greater harm upon already vulnerable and grieving communities. The answer to these great injustices – to the deaths of so many mostly Latiné children and teachers – is clear. It is healthy, resourced communities and neighborhoods, stricter gun laws, and a thriving movement towards a multiracial popular democracy where the lives of our children take precedence over the whims of billionaires. 

“We urge elected officials across the country to avoid inflicting more danger and violence on Black and Brown communities in the midst of this horrific tragedy. We need to support our young people more than ever by ending and preventing school ‘hardening’ measures like militarization, police in schools, zero tolerance, surveillance, and criminalization of young people. 

“Now we organize and act with power. Our opposition wins when we are politically invisible and silent in the face of injustice, a chance we cannot afford to take. We demand better resourced communities and schools. We demand stricter gun laws. We demand accountability for the NRA. We demand President Biden and the Democrats stop this tireless charade of leadership with no accountability for our children’s lives and futures. We demand an end to the mass death of innocent children and people of color.”

Black and Brown young people from across the country – including more than a dozen grassroots organizations within the CPD network and 200 endorsing organizations – came together to share their vision of safe, supportive, and inclusive schools to create a liberatory path forward.

See it here: Youth Mandate for Education and Liberation: A Mandate to Guide Us from Crisis to Liberation.  

Representatives from the Center for Popular Democracy Action are available for comment. 

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The Center for Popular Democracy Action works to create equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions. We work on campaigns that promote a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial and economic justice agenda and win victories to improve people’s lives.