MAPLEWOOD, NJ — Dozens of community members gathered under the gazebo of the Hilton Branch of the Maplewood Public Library on Friday, June 2, for the second SOMA Wear Orange rally, in honor of those lost to gun violence and to raise awareness about the need for stronger measures to prevent recurring tragedies.
Wear Orange is a national event started by teens in Chicago in memory of their friend, Hadiya Pendleton, whose life was cut short by gun violence in 2013, just one week after she participated in President Barack Obama’s inaugural parade.
This year’s Wear Orange event was organized by SOMA Moms Demand Action and was co-sponsored by North Jersey Pride and SOMA: Addressing Race and Inequality.
“I became a member of SOMA Moms Demand Action after Newtown, as did many other people, and before that I didn’t really know that there was a local chapter of a group raising awareness about gun violence until last year when I saw ‘Wear Orange’ promotional items and I thought let’s put together something locally,” event organizer Rachel Fisher said in a phone interview with the News-Record prior to the rally, referring to the 2012 Newtown, Conn., mass shooting in an elementary school.
“I started to organize something locally, and found that the ‘Wear Orange’ movement was started by a group of teenagers in Chicago who wanted to honor their friend’s memory. They decided that every year they would wear orange because orange is the color you wear when hunting so that you don’t get shot by other hunters.”
Fisher wanted to bring more awareness to the local community because she believes that if one person is at risk, then everyone is and that’s not something that she wants to be a reality. This is also why she invited two other community groups to join in this year, as well as Maplewood Mayor Vic DeLuca, South Orange Village President Sheena Collum and members of the two towns’ respective local governments.
“We’re all in this society where we are potential targets and that shouldn’t be. As a result of the lack of commonsense regulations, we are all at risk,” Fisher said. “We brought SOMA: Addressing Race and Inequality, and I asked that group for several reasons. People of color are very much disproportionately victims of gun violence, but even more so there is a lot of racism behind gun lobbies. This whole idea that we need to be afraid of black men, and you have all of these people out there fantasizing that they’re going to save their family and their country from the bad guys — the NRA and the gun industry have really cultivated that idea. We also invited North Jersey Pride because the gay rights (movement has) gotten involved in the gun conversation ever since Orlando.”
Fisher was referring to the mass shooting that occurred at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., last year.
The gazebo adjoining the Hilton Branch of the Maplewood Library was a sea of orange as Maplewood and South Orange residents came together to take a stand against rampant gun violence and raise awareness about the many societal issues that it causes.
Khadijah Costley White of SOMA: Addressing Race and Inequality offered a few thought-provoking words to event attendees about the need to stand up for all communities afflicted by gun violence, not just those where they reside.
“As long as it’s not Short Hills or Millburn, it’s OK; as long as it’s there and not here, it’s OK,” she said to the audience. “Ultimately we have to do better, not just here, but there too. Gun violence is an intersectional issue. We want to put it in a broader context, we don’t want to have an intellectual debate about the right to bear arms. This is about commonsense gun regulations.”
Collum and village Trustee Walter Clarke also shared a few words they had prepared with the event participants, urging the two towns to come together.
“Tonight, we’re a family, a sea of orange and we demand to be seen, and not just seen but also heard,” Collum said. “We believe in these two towns that black lives matter. The fight for commonsense gun control has never been more important.”
DeLuca was joined by Maplewood Township Committee members India Larrier and Frank McGehee, and offered not only a call to action, but also a proclamation for the town of Maplewood.
DeLuca proclaimed June 2 Gun Violence Awareness Day in Maplewood, and outlined three strategic initiatives that the town will be enforcing in regard to gun control: extending background checks for gun sales, both public and private; holding accountable irresponsible gun sellers who allow guns to be purchased by individuals who do not go through the proper channels; and punish those who possess, use or traffic illegal guns.
“This movement was started by Hadiya Pendleton’s friends, and then carried forward across the country by moms. What troubles me is the lack of leadership among the men in our country, because if you look at Congress, it’s nothing but a bunch of old white men,” DeLuca said. “I can assure you that here in Maplewood and South Orange we will stand together and appeal any laws that don’t support commonsense gun control.”
Photos by Shanee Frazier
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