The son of one of the victims of last month’s Buffalo supermarket shooting delivered heart-wrenching testimony on Tuesday in front of the Senate.
Garnell Whitfield Jr.’s mother, Ruth Whitfield, 68, was the oldest victim of the May 14 attack at the Tops Friendly Markets, where Payton Gendron allegedly shot and killed 10 people and wounded three others.
Appearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Whitfield Jr. repeatedly said “my mother’s life mattered.”
Whitfield Jr. lamented that “nothing has been done to mitigate” white supremacy “or eradicate it.”
He said:
We’re people of decency. We’re taught to love even our enemies. But our enemies don’t love us. So what are we supposed to do with all our anger and all of our pain? You expect us to continue to just forgive and forget over and over again? And what are you doing? You’re elected to protect us, to protect our way of life.I ask every one of you to imagine the faces of your mothers as you look at mine, and ask yourself, is there nothing that we can do? Is there nothing that you personally are willing to do to stop the cancer of white supremacy and the domestic terrorism that inspires? Because if there is nothing, then respectfully, senators, you should yield your positions of authority and influence to others that are willing to leadon this issue. The urgency of the moment demands no less.My mother&
#8217;s life mattered. My mother’s life mattered. Your actions here today will tell us how much it matters to you.
Watch above.