In this heartbreaking clip, President Obama addresses last night’s hateful massacre in Charleston, South Carolina. He laments the awful incident and speaks to the symbolic attack on black communities in America, the deliberate decision to attack one of the most important bastions of the civil rights era, being the oldest black church in the South. He then turns his attention to gun control:
“I’ve had to make statements like this too many times. Communities like this have had to endure tragedies like this too many times. We do not have all the facts, but once again, we know that too many innocent people have been killed, in part, because somebody who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun. Now is the time for mourning, and for healing, but let’s be clear. At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this kind of mass violence does not happen in other advanced country…It is in our power to do something about it.”
This will mark the fourteen time that President Obama has had to address the nation following a terrifying outbreak of gun violence. Our nation has had to deal with these mindless tragedies again and again, but the right-wing won’t let anyone approach the gun debate with anything resembling reason or rationality, and innocent people lose their lives because of that.
Watch it here: