Warnock urges ‘a common humanity’ in wake of shootings
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said he’s praying people will find “a common humanity” in wake of Saturday’s shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island and Sunday’s massacre of Jews celebrating Hanukkah on a beach in Australia.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Warnock said those interested in a solution need to pray with their lips and with action to fight back against violence.
“Any nation that tolerates this kind of violence year after year, on our college and school campuses, without doing all that we can to stop it is broken and in need of moral repair,” the ordained minister said, reflecting on the incident at Brown, which left at least two students dead and nine injured.
The mass shooting in Australia killed at least 11 at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, reports said.
“We have to be very clear in condemning antisemitism,” Warnock said. “We’re seeing a rise of antisemitism in our own country and across the globe. We have to condemn antisemitism. We have to condemn hatred and violence wherever it rears its ugly head. And I certainly will continue to do that.”
Warnock said Americans must reject violence and remember what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called the “beloved community.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. If my neighbors are not safe, I’m not safe. They are not my enemy. We have to find common cause, connect in the deep places of our humanity and recognize that all of us are children of God,” Warnock said.
Warnock added that forces of division sow the seeds of distrust.
“A kind of cynicism and despair sets in,” he said. “And rather than people turning toward each other, they are tempted to turn on each other. And that creates just the kind of atmosphere where strong men emerge promising to solve all of our problems in one fell swoop. We have to resist that and recognize that the way to our own wholeness and well-being is to affirm the humanity of our neighbors.”
Later on the program, Warnock said he’s worried about health care subsidies. The House of Representatives and Senate have been unable to agree on a health care package that extends Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“Surely, the wealthiest nation on the planet can afford to provide basic health care to its citizens,” he said. “We suffer not from a poverty of resources, but a poverty of moral imagination”
President Donald Trump is dividing the country as a distraction “while wealth transfers from the bottom to the top,” the senator said.
“People are fighting just seeing their costs for health care are doubling while Congress engages in everyday political games,” Warnock said. “They’re seeing their utility costs go up, their grocery costs go up. And meanwhile, the president is saying that he would rate this economy an A-plus-plus-plus. The question from me is: Who is he talking about? Clearly his friends, the well-connected, the wealthy — certainly not the people that I see every day in Georgia.”
Warnock mentioned the possible impact of health care cuts in places such as Evans County.
“Those folks have literally seen their labor and delivery unit close in recent years because of these draconian cuts to health care. And if we don’t do something, they may very well lose their ICU,” Warnock said.
“Can I tell you something?” he added. “If you live in Claxton, Georgia, if you live in rural America — even if you have wealth and resources — and you’re having a stroke and there’s no ICU within a reasonable distance because of these draconian cuts, you are impaired. Your life is in peril. You are in trouble. We can do better than this.”
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., appearing later on the program with moderator Kristen Welker, said rising premiums have been created by artificial demand.
“My plan is this: Let people in the individual market, the Obamacare market — which is about 4% of America, a small number of people — let them buy their insurance through Costco, Sam’s Club, you know, Amazon,” he said.
“What would happen is, once you get a large enough size, let’s say you had a couple million people buy their insurance together, it’d be bigger than any corporation in America. But they’d no longer be stuck with an individual plan. They would get group insurance. They would probably have their negotiators sit down with the CEO of UnitedHealthcare and they would get a one-on-one meeting and they would get to demand good insurance at a good price.”
Looking ahead for next year’s U.S. Senate race in Georgia, with incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff running for reelection, Warnock said Democrats would win.
“I have deep faith,” he said. “Georgia has saved the nation before. Remember Jon Ossoff and I literally flipped the Senate. And Georgia’s going to show up again. He’s doing the work, fighting for health care, fighting for affordability. And we’re going to win Georgia.”
About the Author
Bennett has worked as editor of The Journal Record in Oklahoma City, the Anniston Star in Alabama and the Columbia Daily Herald in Tennessee. He was sports editor of the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson and worked in the sports departments of Cox's Miami News, The Arizona Republic and Seattle Times. He was an Atlanta Journal intern in 1982.
