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Community Voice: When talking about gun violence, why ‘Wear Orange’?

Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Sylvia Peoples Fuller puts a picture of her son Percy Allen, IV, who died of gun violence, on the steps during the Wear Orange event held by the Chattanooga chapter of Moms Demand Action in Miller Park on Sunday, June 4, 2023. The event was held to honor the lives of those lost to gun violence.
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Sylvia Peoples Fuller puts a picture of her son Percy Allen, IV, who died of gun violence, on the steps during the Wear Orange event held by the Chattanooga chapter of Moms Demand Action in Miller Park on Sunday, June 4, 2023. The event was held to honor the lives of those lost to gun violence. Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Sylvia Peoples Fuller puts a picture of her son Percy Allen, IV, who died of gun violence, on the steps during the Wear Orange event held by the Chattanooga chapter of Moms Demand Action in Miller Park on Sunday, June 4, 2023. The event was held to honor the lives of those lost to gun violence.

By April Cook 3 min read

On Sunday, June 7, at 4 p.m., Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the City of Chattanooga’s Office of Community Services will convene at Miller Park to commemorate National Wear Orange Day.

Wear Orange remembers and honors our loved ones lost to gun violence and their surviving community.

Why orange? In January 2013, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton marched in President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade. A week later, Hadiya, an innocent bystander, was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. To commemorate her life, Hadiya’s friends wore orange, the color hunters wear in the woods to stand out for safety. In Tennessee and other states, wearing orange clothing is required for big game hunting.

(READ MORE: Community members wear orange to draw attention to gun violence problem)

Wear Orange honors Hadiya and the nearly 130 people shot and killed every day in the United States, along with the hundreds more who are wounded, and their survivors: families and friends whose lives were forever changed by gun violence.