On Wednesday, September 20, Senator Reverend Warnock hosted a community conversation in partnership with Community Justice Action Fund (Community Justice) examining the impact of gun violence in the Black community

The Senator was an honorary co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 52nd Annual Legislative Conference which took place September 20-24 in Washington, D.C. 

Moderated by MSNBC’s Symone Sanders-Townsend, the community conversation featured acclaimed hip hop artist Quavo, U.S. Representative Lucy McBath, and Community Justice Executive Director Greg Jackson

Photo credit: Office of Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA)

Washington, D.C. – Last Wednesday, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA), honorary co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 52^nd Annual Legislative Conference (CBCF ALC), hosted a community conversation in collaboration with Community Justice Action Fund (Community Justice) examining the impact of gun violence in the Black community and unpacking how Americans can come together to end this violence in their communities and communities across the country. 

The forum was hosted by Symone Sanders-Townsend, host of MSNBC’s weekend public affairs program “Symone,” and in addition to Senator Warnock, featured Community Justice Executive Director Greg Jackson, Congresswoman Lucy McBath from Georgia’s 7^th District, as well as acclaimed artist and founder of The Rocket Foundation Quavious “Quavo” Marshall. The panel was a solutions-focused dialogue on gun violence prevention and community violence intervention, with an emphasis on Black and brown communities that disproportionately shoulder the harm of this crisis and the community-based solutions that will help save lives.

See the below coverage of Senator Reverend Warnock’s CBCF ALC Panel:

ABC: Good Morning America 3

September 22^nd, 2023

• Senator Warnock: “There is no more important issue for those of us who serve in public office than to ensure that people are safe.”

• SW: “And so I was proud to host a panel discussion a couple of days ago. It featured my colleague, Congresswoman Lucy McBath, who tragically lost her own son to senseless gun violence that was racially motivated. But also Quavo, who is an important voice in the hip hop community who’s experienced loss in recent months.”

• SW: “The good news is that they are transforming their pain into power and uplifting the importance of dealing with this issue in our country.”

• SW: “We can do better than this. We’ve had more mass shootings this year than we’ve had days this year. And that doesn’t even count the ordinary or the tragic, everyday violence that happens in our community.”

MSNBC: Symone

September 23^rd, 2023

• Senator Warnock: “I joined with several of my colleagues, we sent a letter to the White House, urging the President to pull all the levers with his executive authority that he could to help. And I’m glad to see this first ever White House office on gun safety opened up, it is a significant move. And I look forward to seeing the work that will come out of that.”

• SW: “We haven’t been able to get any movement on this in the Congress. And I’ll tell you what that tells us, the folks who are watching ought to ask, how is it that we can’t get movement on something where there’s that much agreement? It’s because in too many instances, the people’s voices have been squeezed out of their own democracy, they’ve been replaced by dark money, by the outsized impact of these corporate voices in our politics, by partisan and racial gerrymandering that that paralyzes us.”

• SW: “And so it’s the reason why I’m focused on gun safety, to be sure. But in a real sense, I think our inability to move so far is indicative of a democracy problem. And so we need to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.”

Associated Press: Atlanta rapper Quavo steps up advocacy against gun violence after nephew Takeoff’s shooting death

September 20^th, 2023

• The trauma Migos rapper Quavo suffered after witnessing his nephew Takeoff being gunned down last year is a disturbing sight he doesn’t want anyone else to experience.

• Through his pain, Quavo found his purpose as a vocal advocate against gun violence. He met privately with some powerful political figures including Vice President Kamala Harris then later spoke on a panel about combating the issue during the Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference in Washington on Wednesday.

• Quavo joined a panel discussion Wednesday alongside Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, Rep. Lucy McBath — whose activism was propelled after the shooting death of her teenage son — and Greg Jackson of the Community Justice Action Fund. It was a solutions-oriented conversation on community intervention strategies, the battle with gun violence and the power in advocacy.