Yesterday, at the White House, students, parents and administrators gathered to speak about the unspeakable tragedies that have gripped our nation for the last two decades. Andrew Pollack, whose daughter was murdered on February 14, 2018, spoke in righteous indignation from the depths that only a grieving parent can plumb. America saw strength and passion in the raw grief.

President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos met in the State Dining Room with the students, parents and administrators. It was real. It was raw. The emotions are so new and unprocessed. A few of the children were forced to speak by their parents and it felt exploitative. A few of the children could barely put two words together (I identified with them). The whole scene felt like someone was rubbing salt into a bad road rash. Nothing like the sh*t show on CNN last night that Deanna wrote about. Read that here.

School shootings have been happening since before the nation was founded. Since Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, there have 25 school shootings. Nineteen years of shootings all with a similar M.O.

The meeting at the White House was going as scripted (this is how we do it) until Andrew Pollack stood up. Andrew Pollack has been in the media since the Parkland shooting on February 14 because while search for his missing daughter, he wore a “Trump 2020” T-shirt and got “Twitterhated.”

Andrew Pollack stood up and, hale yeah! Please, don’t skip this video. Watch this video. This man is a hero for his children.

That’s so real. Painful. Awful. And, beautiful.

This is Meadow Pollack in her senior picture. Shot nine times and killed, she will never walk with her class. She had a “smile like sunshine” that will never be seen again on this Earth. Mr. Pollack and his three sons will never see Meadow on this Earth again. The three older brothers will never see their sister on this Earth again. Let that sink in.

Of course, the Twitterhate continued apace:

Love Trumps Hate.

Meadow Pollack lies at King David cemetery. Her fellow students will walk in their graduation ceremony soon. Her dad and brothers will have to remain as strong as they are now to survive this next assault. God Bless Them.