USA Today reports, “Over the next three days, people were killed and injured in Virginia, Mississippi, New Mexico, Illinois, and more…Monday evening in Hollywood Beach, Florida…nine people were injured by gunfire along a boardwalk.”
We cannot gather in peace. We cannot celebrate safely. We can not relax or take a deep breath without the imminent and very real threat of gun violence. I am going to repeat myself: I am tired.
This preventable epidemic is growing and while we have seen incredible legislation come through at the state and national capacity, it is not enough. We refuse to accept these tragedies as normal or expected.
To those forever impacted, those re-traumatized, and the irreplaceable lives lost, our hearts are with you, but our heads remain high as we–once again–re-commit ourselves to the necessary fight to end gun violence once and for all.
These community attacks come just days before the National Wear Orange Weekend. Founded in 2013 after 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed in Chicago just one week after she performed at President Obama’s second inauguration. After her death, her friends and family chose to wear orange on her birthday, June 2, to honor Hadiya and the tens of thousands of lives lost to gun violence every year. They chose orange because it was her favorite color and it is the color hunters wear to protect themselves from gunfire.
