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* Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth today on the House floor…
* Please pardon any transcription errors…
On May 23rd, it was a Friday just like this one. We were wrapping up Third Readings and I had just come off of a bipartisan, bicameral baby shower led by none other than Leader Lilly.
And I left this chamber with a trunk-full of items that my colleagues very graciously gifted to myself and my budding family. And nine months’ pregnant, ankles swollen, legs swollen, toes swollen, up, I drove home. And as many pregnant expectant mothers do, you are talking about the weeks ahead and the joy that you are going to experience bringing life into the world. Many of you all that have given birth, that have carried a child, know that you get to a point in your pregnancy where you can’t even lay down in the bed. You’re so tight, you almost have to sleep in a recliner.
And that May 23rd turned into May 24th. And on May 24th at 3:17am, we received a phone call that no family ever wants to receive. We received the phone call that your child has been shot and you need to get to the hospital now. And like anyone else who’s ever received that call, you’re praying the entire way that a mistake was made, only to get to the hospital to realize that not only was it not a mistake, but they take you to the small waiting room. I’ve been in that small waiting room a couple of times, and it’s never good when you go to the small waiting room.
After maybe 45 minutes, the doctor comes in, takes his hat off of his head, lays it on his chest, and says, ‘So sorry, we’ve done all we can do, but DJ is gone.’
Sorry. [begins to cry]
I share this moment for a couple of reasons. One, it’s important to me that DJ never be forgotten. Two, oftentimes, when you go into Memorial Day weekend, it can be a moment of festivity, of fun with family and friends. But ladies and gentlemen, in many communities across the state and across this country, it is the beginning of a season of gun violence where many people lose their children, they lose their brothers, they lose their sisters.
And I want us to be mindful as we go into this Memorial Day weekend about the work that we have ahead of us. We’re not always going to agree. We are not always going to understand what each others’ plights are. But ladies and gentlemen, I want to share with you what we all share is the love for our families and the love of our communities. And I love DJ today as I loved him 11 years ago. That doesn’t change, but what I would share with you all, and what I hope that we have the ability to do, is to see beyond what we feel personally and what we have felt personally and have compassion for one another as we continue the work that we must do over the next week ahead.
We have to find ways to provide protection and opportunity in communities. I will never say that there is a bill that we would pass that would have saved DJ’s life. But ladies and gentlemen, the work that we do is bigger than any one person. No matter how much losing DJ shattered my family. Shattered. I will leave you with the fact that this work, and many of you all that have been a part of my life, you all have been a part of my therapy journey, because this work is what has allowed me to remain sane. Being able to work on behalf of other victims, working on behalf of other families.
And so for those of you all who have been a part of that collective work, from me and from the entire Booth family, I thank you.
The chamber then observed a moment of silence, and so will we.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 23, 25 @ 2:03 pm
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