JCPA Statement on Minneapolis School Shooting

JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick released the following statement:

We are horrified and devastated by yet another school shooting in which two children – 8 and 10 years old – were murdered and 17 other people injured while praying during mass. This doesn’t need to keep happening. Our children, and all of us, deserve to live free from gun violence.

Our hearts are with the Minneapolis and Catholic communities and all impacted.

Reports indicate that the shooter’s social media accounts and gun had extensive hateful messages, including antisemitic scrawlings.

This is horrifying, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Over the past decade, we’ve seen a cycle of extremist attacks in which each inspires the next — with many involving the very same hate, conspiracy theories, and tactics reflected here. This serves as a painful reminder that the targeting of any community makes all of us less safe, whether Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Black, immigrant, or any other community.

Our government isn’t powerless to stop these acts of hate and violence. Yet this administration continues to decimate key anti-extremism and hate crime prevention programs, while Washington fails to move forward sensible gun reforms, all while our communities pay the price.