Minneapolis Mayor Frey to Vance: Prayers Are Good, They Are A Necessity, But They Are Not In Themselves Adequate
In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey responded to Vice President JD Vance’s defense of thoughts and prayers after mass shootings.
COLLINS: Yes, I just — you got to think of the parents, obviously, when you hear that, and– FREY: Yes. COLLINS: –living through this time and time again. And one thing that has been part of this is something you said to the country yesterday. In the immediate aftermath of this, you said, Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. FREY: Right. COLLINS: And as you know, that has sparked a huge reaction. And the Vice President seemed to respond to it today. I want you to listen to what Vice President JD Vance had to say. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: When I see far left politicians say, How dare you offer thoughts and prayers, you need action. You know? I don’t care about your prayers, I care about what you are going to do to prevent this from happening. Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t you pray for the speedy recovery of these kids who literally just got shot yesterday, while at the same time committing to making sure this doesn’t happen again, or that it happens as infrequently as possible. (END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: What’s your response to that? FREY: Well, maybe we’re not really having an argument then, and hopefully JD Vance will pass this very necessary legislation that prevents kids from dying, in the future. Because, look, I’m all for prayer. Prayer has a deep foundation for so many people, throughout our country. I’m all for thoughts. I mean, everything begins with a thought. But in this case, it’s got to end with an action. There’s a principle in Judaism known as Tikkun Olam, which is about healing the world. And essentially, the meaning there is, prayers are good, but they are not enough. They are a necessity, but they are not in and of themselves, adequate. It’s only adequate if you can attach an action to the work. And in this case, we know what the solutions are. They’ve been the same solutions three years ago, five years ago, 15 years ago. Other countries around the world have suffered some of these horrible attacks, and they’ve said, You know what? That’s not good. We’re going to stop that from happening again. The only difference is here, we don’t do that. Here, you see a tragedy in one city, and then next thing you know, there’s a tragedy in the other. One of the most shocking thing’s with how many texts I received from other mayors, who have experienced a mass shooting in a church or in a school. That’s horrific in and of itself. And so, to the extent Vice President JD Vance is saying he’s going to act? God bless, I pray for you to act, I hope you act, because it’s going to be that action that saves lives, in the future. COLLINS: Mayor Jacob Frey, when you said that, about the texts from other mayors, I just, I was looking at the flowers that have been put outside the church, and one of them was from people in Uvalde, Texas. And just to see that, it was really striking. Mayor Jacob Frey, thank you for taking the time to join us tonight. FREY: Thank you for having me.
