Statement from U.S. Agriculture Secretary Vilsack on Ongoing Violence in America | site |




Information contained in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) press release dated: May 25, 2022

Washington, May 25, 2022 - - “Another massacre in America. A statement that is all too common and one we all wish to never speak again. Last week it was a church in California and a grocery store in Buffalo. Yesterday, it was an elementary school in Texas. It’s enough. We cannot and should not be willing to live with this carnage.

“I know the pain that a family feels when a child is lost. My heart aches again at the news of so many young lives needlessly cut short. Time and time again parents and loved ones grapple with the heartbreaking, the unbearable, and the unthinkable in this country. One time is far too many.

“I know the contribution that a teacher can make and how tragic it is so many young lives will never be inspired to learn because of violence. Our classrooms should be the place where our children can dream, can learn, and can achieve their highest potential – not the place where horrific acts of violence become normalized.

“In school hallways, in grocery stores, in places of worship, in shopping malls, or in the neighborhood, families should not have to live their lives in fear. Our nation is resilient, but also a nation that must, and can, do better for families and their children. We are again called upon to mend a frayed nation, to turn commonsense into solution, and as President Biden remarked, ‘to turn this pain into action.’

“My thoughts and prayers are with all the families that grieve, and I join parents and grandparents everywhere with the hope we can come together and end these needless tragedies.”