South Florida ‘Wear Orange’ Events To Protest Gun Violence

MIAMI, FL — Don’t be surprised to see a sea of orange shirts, shoes, socks and headbands in and around South Florida this weekend. Nearly 750 grassroots events are planned nationwide from Friday through Sunday to call for an end to gun violence.

The so-called “Wear Orange 2019” campaign events are part of the fifth annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day on June 7. Here are the details of the organized events around South Florida:

• Proclamation for Gun Violence Awareness and WEAR ORANGE
  • Hollywood City Hall 2600 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
  • June 5, 12:30 p.m.
  • The Proclamation for Gun Violence Awareness and WEAR ORANGE will be presented. Debbie Hixon, a resident of Hollywood will be accepting the proclamation. Please attend wearing your Mom's WEAR ORANGE shirt, another orange shirt, or your Mom's Red shirt.
• Speakers and Refreshments
  • Goulds Park, 11350 SW 216th Street, Miami
  • Saturday, June 8, 10 a.m.
  • The event features speakers and refreshments to support survivors and raise awareness of gun violence. Contests with prizes. Stem computer activities. Pizza and drinks will be available.
• Elementary School Project
  • Imagine North Lauderdale School, 1395 FL-7, North Lauderdale
  • Saturday, June 8, 9 a.m.
  • Join Moms Demand Action volunteers and members of the local community as we partner together with The League of Women Voters for our Wear Orange Community event. An annual weekend to honor victims of gun violence, this year we will work to transform a local elementary school in an area with disproportionately high gun violence. We will need many hands to help create multiple murals, build benches and bookshelves, and improve the campus at a public North Lauderdale Elementary School. This is a child friendly event. Come out and make a difference in a child's life! Snacks and drinks provided. From I-95: Take Cypress Creek Rd (West) Continue on Cypress Creek Rd heading west (will turn into SW 15th ST/W McNab Rd) Slight right onto Access Rd (signs for FL-7/US441) School will be straight ahead at light (Blvd of Champions) School is adjacent to Mobil gas station (Corner of Blvd of Champions and 441) Imagine North Lauderdale, 1395 FL-7,

• Garden Service Project
  • Junior League Community Garden of Boca Raton, 101 NW 4th St.,
    Boca Raton
  • Saturday, June 8, 8 a.m.
  • Join South Palm Beach County Moms Demand Action members as we volunteer at the Community Garden in downtown Boca Raton. We will plant orange flowers in honor of lives taken by gun violence. Please bring a canned good or other pantry item to the garden which will be donated to Boca Helping Hands.

More than 100 Americans are killed with guns every day, according to the organization, and guns are the second-leading cause of death for American children. The events, dedicated to honoring victims of gun violence, are meant to elevate the “voice of every American who demands an end to gun violence” throughout the weekend.

Organizers chose the color orange in honor of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton, who was gunned down in Chicago a week after performing at President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade in 2013. Pendleton’s friends wore orange in her honor.

Gun safety advocates are spearheading the effort, which has attracted brand partners including Levi Strauss & Co. and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as celebrities including Julianne Morre, Laura Dern and Keegan-Michael Key. Other cultural influencers and more than 200 mayors plan to partake, as well as Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois.

Dozens of large events are planned in cities such as Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, South Bend, Tampa and Washington, D.C., organizers said. Moreover, major landmarks and retail stores plan to turn orange as well, including the famed Empire State Building in New York City.

The event comes days after 12 people were killed in a mass shooting at Virginia Beach Municipal Center. As Patch previously reported, mass shootings have become commonplace in America. The Virginia shooting was one of 156 mass shootings as of Monday, which marked just the 154th day of the year. Shootings can only be eligible for the database if at least four people are shot or killed, excluding the gunman.

Americans make up just 4.4 percent of the world's population but own 42 percent of the world's guns, according to a 2016 study by Adam Lankford, an associate criminology and criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama.

Lankford told Patch this week that about 31 percent of all public mass shooters attack in America. If mass shootings were evenly distributed, that number would be closer to 5 percent or less, he said.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.