News Release - Mayor Warren Proclaims June 1 as Gun Violence Awareness Day

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City of Rochester

News Release 

(Thursday, May 31, 2018) -- Mayor Lovely A. Warren has joined a national movement with other U.S. mayors to proclaim Friday, June 1 as Gun Violence Awareness Day. 

“Like many cities our size, Rochester struggles with the plague of gun violence,” said Mayor Warren. “I am grateful for this opportunity to join my fellow mayors across the country to amplify the voices of our citizens on a national level to bring an to end these senseless tragedies.”

“I want to commend and thank Mayor Warren for joining this national conversation and I am committed to working with her on the local level to deal with the issue of gun violence in our community,” said Councilmember Willie J. Lightfoot, chairman of the Public Safety, Youth and Recreation Committee. “As a member of City Council, I want to confront this epidemic, which is causing so much pain and suffering for my fellow citizens.”

Mayor Warren and Councilmember Lightfoot are in the final stages of developing a summer-long public service campaign to start a community conversation about gun violence. Details will be announced in early June.

Mayor Warren is also encouraging citizens to wear orange on Friday, which is the color that symbolizes the protection of human life. The City Hall portico, Rundel Memorial Library and many Downtown buildings will be lit orange this weekend as part of the Wear Orange component of National Gun Violence Awareness Day.

National Gun Violence Awareness Day is organized by Everytown for Gun Safety and falls near the June 2 birthday of Hadiya Pendleton of Chicago, who would have been 21 this year. Hadiya marched in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade when she was 15 and was shot to death a few weeks later. Her classmates organized the Wear Orange campaign, choosing orange because it is the color hunters wear to keep themselves from being shot by other hunters.

Read the proclamation here>>

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