John, 

Friday was the the sixth National Gun Violence Awareness Day and the kick-off to Wear Orange Weekend.

On January 21, 2013 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton attended the second inaugural parade for President Barack Obama—a week later she was shot and killed in a local park while sheltering from the rain with her friends in Chicago.

Following her death, friends and family commemorated her life by dressing in orange—the color hunters wear for protection, so that they are seen and not killed.

Since then, the gun violence prevention movement uses this event to uplift those working tirelessly to bring attention to America’s gun violence epidemic through digital and on-the-ground-actions—remembering the many lives cut short.

While gun violence does impact everyone, regardless of race or age, young Black Americans are impacted at an enormously disproportionate rate.

• Black men make up 52% of all gun homicide victims, despite comprising less than 7% of the U.S. population.
• Black Americans are 10 times more likely than white Americans to die by gun homicide, and 14 times more likely than white Americans to be injured in a gun assault.

We cannot talk about acting to end gun violence without bringing attention to murders at the hands of the police. Unarmed Black civilians are nearly five times more likely to be shot and killed by police than unarmed white civilians.

These recent murders come as no surprise to many Black Americans. In fact they only further illustrate the long-standing violence against Black people at the hands of police and our racist criminal justice system.

Make no mistake. As Dante Barry of Million Hoodies said: “Police violence is gun violence.”

We must remember the countless lives taken by police and honor their legacies by joining together and demanding justice, as well as holding the police accountable today and everyday beyond National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

Use our toolkit to find ways to take action in your own communities.

A hashtag and moment of silence cannot be the only answer. Victims, survivors, and the Black community deserve better.

Please join us and other gun violence prevention activists and organizations around the country in remembering the lives lost and those affected by gun violence and taking action.

Amber Gaither
Senior Operations Coordinator
Generation Progress