A message of forgiveness and reconciliation was shared with Arizona’s lawmakers to start off the legislative session on Monday.
Of all the bands Arizona's legislature could have picked to perform for the first day of the session, Eastern Arizona College's Gila Monster Marching band made their third consecutive trip down to the House floor to kick off the next 100 days of policy making.
On their back, each band member wore the legislative district they're from.
Every corner of the state was represented from a college that predates Arizona's statehood in 1888.
Despite their background, they unite, harmonize and together share a sound for all to enjoy.
“We have the only community college marching band in the state of Arizona, like I said we represent the entire state,” said Todd Haynie, the President of Eastern Arizona College.
The sound of unity despite differences was echoed on Monday, not by a politician, athlete or celebrity, but by a survivor.
“I was 11 months old when Hitler seized power,” said author and speaker Hanna Zack Miley, a Holocaust survivor now living in north Phoenix.
Before lawmakers, she shared a story from when she was just seven years old.
In 1939, she was one of 10,000 Jewish children who fled Nazi-run Germany by train for England — a rescue mission that saved thousands of lives despite family separation.
Years later, her parents would also leave Germany by train but were taken to a town where they were gassed to death, with no grave or headstone.
Now, years later, she travels the world spreading a message of reconciliation.
Still, she holds on to hope and forgiveness, although her early life had a fair share of grief.
"We followed the same path in our common experience of healing, forgiveness and freedom,” she said to a room of Arizona’s lawmakers.
Her message to lawmakers was, "there's plenty that divides us, but there's more that unites us."
