John–
Ten years ago—and less than a week after performing at President Obama's second inauguration—our 15-year-old daughter Hadiya was shot and killed. We were devastated by her death, and we've missed her every day for the last decade.
But we have also been filled with hope. Year after year, people across the country have come together to honor her and the hundreds of people killed or wounded by gun violence in the United States every single day.
Today would have been Hadiya's 26th birthday. Now, it's the 9th annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day and the beginning of Wear Orange Weekend.
To honor Hadiya and everyone affected by the gun violence crisis, join our family by wearing orange today and all weekend long. Then post your photo on social media with #WearOrange!
Wear Orange got its start thanks to Hadiya's friends. In the aftermath of her death, they launched Project Orange Tree to honor her life and raise awareness about gun violence in our community. They asked all of us to wear orange because hunters wear the color to warn other hunters not to shoot—it's the color of safety that signals the need to protect each other.
June 2, 2015—what would have been Hadiya's 18th birthday—became the very first National Gun Violence Awareness Day. We now commemorate it on the first Friday of every June as the start of Wear Orange Weekend.
We do this work every year because everyone in this country deserves a future free from gun violence. And we wear orange to call for an end to this crisis in all of its forms, including domestic violence, suicide, and city gun violence. Whether it's worn by students in Montana, activists in New York, or Hadiya's loved ones in Chicago, the color orange honors the more than 120 lives cut short and the hundreds more wounded by gun violence every day.
We have a lot of work left to do before our children are safe. But if the last ten years have shown us anything, it's that we can save lives. We'll honor our loved ones with action and cultivate hope for a better future.
John, join us by wearing orange today for National Gun Violence Awareness Day and all of Wear Orange Weekend. Use #WearOrange to show how you're showing up for gun safety and encourage your friends to do the same. Together, we can end this crisis.
Thank you for wearing orange and for being a part of this movement.
Cleopatra Cowley and Nate Pendleton
Parents of Hadiya Pendleton
Co-founders of Hadiya's Foundation, a 501c3 organization
P.S. If you are a survivor of gun violence or have a loved one who has been wounded or killed by gun violence, you can share your story on Moments That Survive with the stories of other survivors of gun violence. Please read our Moments That Survive story about Hadiya.
