Matthew McConaughey issued a statement Tuesday night on the horrific massacre of 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas, where McCaonaughey was born and spent his elementary school years.
Warning that the impotent response to the shooting — almost no one thinks anything will be done — has “tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us,” McConaughey suggested the problem is bipartisan.
“Whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured,” He said in the statement, posted to his Twitter account Tuesday night.
“We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo,” he said also.
Read the full statement below:
As you are all aware, there was another mass shooting today, this time in my home town of Uvalde, Texas. Once again we have tragically proven that we are failing to be responsible for the rights our freedoms grant us.
The true call to action is for every American to take a longer and deeper look in the mirror, and ask ourselves, ‘What is it that we truly value? How do we repair the problem? What small sacrifices can we individually take today, to preserve a healthier and safer nation, state and neighborhood tomorrow?’ We cannot exhale once again, make excuses, and accept these tragic realities as the status quo
As Americans, Texans, mothers and fathers, it’s time we re-evaluate and renegotiate our wants from our needs. We have to rearrange our values and find a common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue.
This is an epidemic we can control, and whichever side of the aisle we may stand on, we all know we can do better. We must do better. Action must be taken so that no parent has to experience what the parents in Uvalde and the others before them have endured.
And to those who dropped off their loved ones today not knowing it was goodbye, no words can comprehend or heal your loss, but if prayers can provide comfort we will keep them coming.