Matthew McConaughey Delivers Emotional Speech About His Hometown of Uvalde At the White House

Actor Matthew McConaughey’s hometown is Uvalde, Texas, the same town where the tragic school shooting took place in May when an 18-year-old with a gun locked himself in a classroom and killed 2 teachers and 19 students inside, wounding others.

McConaughey and his wife, Camilla, visited Uvalde and spoke to the families of the victims. They heard stories about the children who were killed, what they wanted to be when they grew up, their hopes and dreams which will never be realized. 

McConaughey did more than listen. He took action. He and his wife traveled to Washington, D.C. where he met with President Joe Biden before speaking from the podium at the White House press briefing room.

In his 20 minute speech at the White House, he urged law makers to look past their political party affiliation and come together to take action. He explained that what these grieving families want more than anything is to make the loss of their children’s lives make a difference. He asked, “How can the loss of these lives matter?”

Watch the video below to hear excepts from McConaughey’s powerful and emotional speech.

In McConaughey’s speech, he also talked about how he heard the news that there had been a mass shooting in his hometown. He explained, “I had been out of cellular range working in the studio all day when I emerged and messages about a mass shooting in the town I was born in began flooding my inbox. In a bit of shock, I drove home, hugged my children a bit tighter and longer than the night before, and then the reality of what had happened that day in the town I was born in set in.” The very next day, he and his family “loaded up the truck and drove to Uvalde.  And when we arrived a few hours later, I got to tell you, even from the inside of our vehicle, you could feel the shock in the town.  You could feel the pain, the denial, the disillusion, anger, blame, sadness, loss of lives, dreams halted.”

Do you think law makers will actually be able to come together to make a change that will make the loss of life in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, matter?