WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 5, 2019) – Statement from Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MPH, the Michael and Lori Milken Dean of Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University:
On Aug. 3, the nation learned about another mass shooting, this time at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Just hours later, in Dayton, Ohio, there was another gun attack in an entertainment district – bringing the death toll at press time to 31 with at least 50 injuries reported so far.
As the Dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, and as a pediatrician and a mother of a young adult, I am sickened by these preventable tragedies.
These crimes are unconscionable and mark a terrible moment in our history as a nation where the only way to comprehend these crimes is to recognize that we are indeed experiencing an epidemic of gun violence.
As the only school of public health in the nation’s capital, we condemn these acts of senseless violence – and recognize them for what they are: a public health crisis.
In 2019 alone, there have been scores of these mass shootings in the United States and the number of dead and injured just keeps growing.
One lesson worth remembering in this time of national mourning is the importance of focusing not on the perpetrators, who may be motivated by notoriety, but on the victims of these assaults. We need to support the people of El Paso and Dayton, including immigrants, children, young adults and others affected by the tragedy.
The attack in El Paso is particularly distressing for our Latinx population. We stand with them and reiterate our support to them as treasured members of our community.
While these attacks did not happen on our campus, they nonetheless affect our students, staff, faculty and alumni powerfully as we each seek to understand and process these events. As public health professionals, we are committed to defining the role of our profession in addressing the growing public health problem of gun violence in the United States.
We must not allow ourselves to normalize this situation but instead must concentrate even more effort around comprehensive solutions for this urgent public health problem.
We must all work together, now more than ever, to build a more peaceful, more equitable world.