June 2nd is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Wear Orange supporters will don orange clothing to honor victims of gun violence on this day. The Wear Orange campaign, initiated by a group of Chicago teens, who saw their 15 year old friend Hadiya Pendleton killed by a stray bullet at a park near her school.
Support for the Wear Orange campaign has gone worldwide and this year Motown Records, MTV and Essence magazine join more than 140 groups, politicians and celebrities pledging to wear orange to raise awareness of gun violence, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
To honor Pendleton’s life, her friends launched Project Orange Tree, a violence awareness organization. They chose the wearing of orange as a symbol because it is the color hunters wear to identify themselves as human, not prey, when in the woods. The gun control advocacy organization, Everytown for Gun Safety, noticed the group’s activities last fall and is promoting the project across social media with the hashtag “wearingorange.”
At the moment the stars supporting the Wear Orange campaign are Julianne Moore, Russell Simmons, Sarah Silverman, Michael Stipe, Patti Smith, Aasif Mandvi, Alyssa Milano, Padma Lakshmi, John Hodgman, Amanda Peet, Perez Hilton, Melissa Joan Hart, Tiffani Thiessen, Tunde Adebimpe of TV On The Radio, Rise Against, Mario Batali, Anti-Flag, Nigel Barker, Grace Weber, Jon Foreman, Judith Hill, Amber Coffman of Dirty Projectors, Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees and Thomas Roberts of MSNBC.
Congressional support comes from Participating Senators include Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) is also participating.
In the House of Representative Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) who recently won “Top Gun” in a Congressional skeet shoot then used his acceptance comments to call for more gun control. Also included are Reps. Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT), Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and the Republican–Rep. Bob Dold (R-IL).
More people are added with less than 24 hours as social media continues to blow up with support for this movement.
