Kids Don’t Want Your F****** Thoughts and Prayers

(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Brian Kemp, I’m talking to you. And you, Henry McMaster. And all of your morally bankrupt GOP buddies who continue to prioritize the NRA over our children’s safety. You are on the losing side of this issue. You know it. I bet your wives tell you. And your kids. And your grandkids. 

I hope one day you’ll listen to them. 

You are the bad guys. You are the villains. You are the reason one of my kids begged me not to send her to school today. You are the reason there are Stop the Bleed kits in my kids’ classrooms. You are the reason my kid’s first grade teacher hides a bag of lollipops in the corner of her classroom, the same corner where they will hide when there is an active shooter. (The lollipops are so the kids will stay quiet during a lockdown, in case you are as dense as you are evil.) 

I hope you see images of bloody school children when you close your eyes at night. I hope you hear their screams.

You are the reason our breath catches every time we hear sirens during the school day. You are the reason we hope our kids are assigned to the classroom far away from the school’s entrance. You are the reason we lied to our kids last night and told them we are sure they will be safe at school today. 

I hope you know that history will look back on your cowardice with great contempt. 

Every child in America goes to school to learn to read, write, add, and subtract. They also learn how to hide from a bad man with a gun, because of you. You are the reason over 4,000 moms bury a child every year. 

I hope you never get another good night’s sleep. 

I wonder if you started your career in “public service” with good intentions. I wonder if you think really really hard about why you first decided to run for office, if there is a glimmer of benevolence. I wonder if you knew you would be so easy to buy off. It got easier every time it happened, didn’t it? I bet you are numb to it now. I bet you don’t even realize all of the ways you have compromised your integrity to line your pockets or to shore up your next election victory. 

I hope it was worth it. 

Far too many Americans have been lulled into a sense of complacency, thinking there is nothing we can do about this uniquely American problem. I get it. The nefarious, profit-motivated forces at play here are intimidating. Progress is almost imperceptibly slow. I understand the everyday Americans who just want to put their heads down and get through the day. 

They hope their child won’t be next. 

But you. You are in a position to DO SOMETHING. You have the power to prevent children from dying. But not only have you abdicated your responsibility to proactively protect our kids, you have made bedfellows with the villains. You sold your soul and robbed our children of any semblance of physical and psychological safety. 

I hope the campaign donations keep you warm at night. 

You have failed our kids. Their blood is on your hands. History will judge you for this devastating dereliction of your duty. And until that day comes, more and more Americans will wake up and see through your feckless offering of thoughts and prayers. And eventually your relationship with the NRA will no longer be a path to electoral victory, it will be your political demise. 

I hope my kids live to see that day.