On the shooting of Congressman Scalise

So much happened in these past two weeks since we’ve seen you last, but I want to take a moment to talk about the shooting of Congressman Steve Scalise and 4 others at the republican congressional team’s baseball practice in Alexandria, VA on Wednesday morning.

I think I speak for everyone in this room and for Cumberland Valley Rising when I say that we condemn this violent and cowardly attack, and that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families during their long road to recovery, both physical and emotional.

Sadly, this episode is one in a long line of violent attacks born out of the increasing political and cultural polarization over the past several years. It is not an isolated incident—this is NOTHING NEW.

We condemn this attack. Just as we condemned the stabbing of three brave men in Portland a few weeks ago, who intervened on behalf of two young Muslim women who were being attacked by an Islamophobe. This attack resulted in the death of two of these men.

We condemn this attack just as we condemned the murders of two Indian immigrants by a xenophobe in Kansas in February. These two men were guilty of nothing more than having brown skin.

We condemn this attack just as we condemned the attack on a Colorado Planned Parenthood last year by a militant anti-choice gunman, who felt that he alone could determine the value of human life. This attack left three people dead, and 9 wounded.

We condemn this attack just as we condemn the mass murder of 9 African Americans at a prayer circle in Charleston, South Carolina by a white supremacist, exactly two years ago yesterday, June 17, 2015.

These were not the first episodes of this kind of violence in our history—indeed they are too numerous to count--where individuals inflamed by hateful rhetoric are spurred to violent action in the name of their cause. They aren’t even the first of their kind against sitting elected officials in recent history, as Gabby Giffords so eloquently reminded us with her statement on Wednesday.

For a brief moment on Wednesday we saw our elected officials come together, we thought perhaps it was a moment in which they could be jolted from their patterns of vitriolic condemnation of the other side, and do the work of compromise and comity that we have sent them to Washington to do.

And while it might gall just a bit that it took THIS act to bring them to their senses rather than any of the others I have just listed, or any of a thousand others we might name, the important thing is that they have come to their senses. Right?

Our elected officials—the ones from right here in Central PA who represent us in Washington—have responded. Let’s see what Congressman Barletta and Congressman Perry had to say:

• GOP congressman: Members of Congress should curtail town halls after Scalise shooting

• Does Republican Congressman Scott Perry Hide Behind a Campaign Facebook Page?

Well, Congressmen, these responses are unacceptable. While we roundly condemn violence, we MUST not and WILL not be silenced.

We can and should tone down the vitriol. I know many of us are angry, but it falls to each and every one of us to keep our interactions with our elected officials and their staff civil—so that the focus is on the ISSUES. When they hang up from every phone call that they receive from a CVR member, we want them to remember us not for our anger, but for our CONVICTION.

We can do this. We have truth on our side. We have compassion on our side. We have the common good on our side. We have RIGHT on our side.

So keep calling. Call Barletta and Perry and let them know that what THEY are doing—how THEY have responded—IS NOT RIGHT. The people have a right to be heard by their elected officials, and we’re not going to let up on them for one second. Keep calling Toomey and DEMAND transparency in the Health Care fight. One lone gunman cannot stand in the way of the rights of millions of people. Keep calling. Keep fighting. Do not let them silence us.

Thank you.