Youtube
UNITED STATES – “We are here again. Another day of mourning in this country.” In tears and angry, the American presenter Jimmy Kimmel denounced on Wednesday May 25 the elected officials of his country who do not act to put an end to the mass killings. A speech the day after the death of 21 people including 19 children in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where an 18-year-old young man, Salvador Ramos, opened fire with rifles directly in the classrooms school.
“These lives have been stolen, families are being destroyed while our leaders on the right, Congress, [la chaîne conservatrice] Fox News and others have told us not to politicize this topic. They even immediately criticized our president who spoke out to do something to stop this,” he said at the start of Jimmy Kimmel Live!. According to the host, it’s “because they know what they’ve done and what they haven’t done. They know it’s not defensible so they sweep it under the rug”.
The full intervention of the American host can be seen in the video below. If you do not understand English, we advise you to activate the automatic subtitles of Youtube in French, in the settings of the video.
In the United States, school killings are a scourge. With each new drama, calls multiply to limit the possession of firearms protected by the second amendment of the Constitution. The Republicans, very attached to this constitutional right, refuse to pass laws restricting their access. Yet, points out Jimmy Kimmel, « 87% of Americans want a background check before a gun can be purchased. »
He continues angrily, recalling that “a bill has been stuck in Congress for a year because our elected cowards won’t listen to us. They listen to the NRA (powerful pro-gun lobby, editor’s note), the people who sign the checks to keep them in power.”
“Admit you made a mistake”
For Republicans, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Ted Cruz, the solution is not a restriction on weapons but, on the contrary, equipping security personnel. The Attorney General of the State has even proposed – and this is not a first – to arm the teachers.
This is not the solution, judges Jimmy Kimmel. “You don’t quite understand what’s going on. There was an armed guard in Buffalo [où 10 personnes sont mortes dans un supermarché début mai, NDLR]there was one in Parkland [un lycée où 17 personnes ont été fusillées en 2018, NDLR], there was one in Uvalde. And these murders keep happening”, he points out, disillusioned.
Jimmy Kimmel says he is convinced that Senator Ted Cruz, who has children, “doesn’t care” about what happened Tuesday in Uvalde. « I bet he went to bed and felt bad the night behind. » This is why he challenges Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott who must go to the annual meeting of the NRA scheduled for Friday:
“I would like to say to Ted Cruz, the human being, and Governor Greg Abbott: You’ll be fine if you admit you made a mistake. In fact, it’s even necessary to admit you made a mistake when that mistake is the death of children in your state. Doing this is a show of courage.”
The Uvalde shooting is one of the worst shootings in the United States for several years. The killer, Salvador Ramos, had bought two rifles and 375 ammunition shortly after his 18th birthday and announced on social media that he was going to a school with a gun. He was killed by the police.
See also also on The Huffpost: After the Texas massacre, Joe Biden shares his grief and his experience as a bereaved father