Designation of El Paso Community Healing Garden National Memorial
Floor Speech
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Ms. ESCOBAR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong and enthusiastic support of my bill, H.R. 4380, the El Paso Community Healing Garden National Memorial Act.
My bill will designate the El Paso Healing Garden at Ascarate Park in El Paso, Texas, as a national memorial, and help ensure that our entire country honors the 23 innocent lives we lost in the attack on El Paso on August 3, 2019.
I rise today for my legislation, but I also rise in memory of the 23 souls who were killed by a domestic terrorist. I rise for the 22 other victims who were injured in the attack. I rise for their loved ones-- their families, friends, and for an entire community rocked by white supremacy.
On the morning of August 3, 2019, a 21-year-old gunman drove more than 11 hours and hundreds of miles to get to El Paso. He used an AK-47 and opened fire at a busy Walmart while families were shopping for groceries, getting their prescriptions filled, and buying school supplies for their children. He killed couples, grandparents, siblings, brand new parents. His youngest victim was just 15 years old. It was the deadliest targeted attack on Latinos in modern American history.
The weapon he used wasn't just intended to kill--an AK-47 rips flesh, bones, and arteries to shreds. Most of the survivors from the attack don't just live with the scars that we can't see in front of us, but they live with unbelievable physical agony, and they also have to shoulder the financial consequences of ongoing surgeries and medical care, even years later.
When he turned himself in, the domestic terrorist confessed to police that he drove to El Paso to slaughter Mexicans and immigrants. He published a screed online just before the massacre, and in it he cited the anti-immigrant Great Replacement theory and xenophobic hate speech, claiming that he was combating what he called the ``Hispanic invasion of Texas.''
This is the same language, these are the same theories, the same hate and racism that we still hear today from rightwing public figures and the former President, whose favorite scapegoats are still vulnerable immigrants.
These people should have seen that their words have power. Unfortunately, however, instead of learning from this tragedy, racists and supremacists have grown more emboldened. And why wouldn't they? They are radicalized nightly by a national media outlet disguised as ``news'' that runs unchecked, their talking points openly parroted by leaders here, in the Halls of Congress.
Our safe, loving, welcoming community, a community of good will, is seen as a threat by people with hate in their heart. The language of hate draws a target on the backs of the most vulnerable. On August 3, El Paso paid the price.
El Pasoans, however, came together in the immediate aftermath of this shooting and we did what we do best: take care of each other, stand united, stand in love. We represent the best of America, and El Pasoans continue to be a source of great hope for me.
El Paso is strong. We are resilient. But we deserve justice and recognition. I am honored to help ensure that what happened in El Paso is not forgotten, not anywhere, not in any corner of this country. That we remember every victim and we work to prevent more tragedy.
Madam Speaker, I will close by sharing the names of the victims:
Andre Pablo Anchondo, Jordan Kae Anchondo, Arturo Benavides, Jorge Calvillo Garcia, Leonardo Campos, Jr., Maribel Hernandez-Loya, Adolfo Cerros Hernandez, Sara Esther Regalado Monreal, Guillermo ``Coach Memo'' Garcia, Angelina Silva Englisbee, Maria Munoz Flores, Raul Estrada Flores, Gerhard Alexander Hoffmann, David Alvah Johnson, Luis Alfonso Juarez, Maria Eugenia Legarreta Rothe, Ivan Manzano, Gloria Irma Marquez, Elsa L. Mendoza, Margie Reckard, Javier Amir Rodriguez, Teresa Trinidad Sanchez Guerra, and Juan De Dios Velazquez.
May they rest in peace, may their families find comfort, and may our country learn from this tragedy.
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