By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
To commemorate National Gun Violence Awareness Month, anti-gun violence advocates from around the state gathered at the State Capitol on June 3.
Wearing orange to honor survivors and to symbolize a future without gun violence, representatives from groups such as the California Chapters of Moms Demand Action (MDA), Students Demand Action (SDA), joined with lawmakers elevate prevention and to promote and coordinate gun control efforts in California and around the country.
Guests included Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, State Treasurer Fiona Ma, Sen. Susan Rubio (D-West Covina), and Assemblymembers Rick Zbur (D-West Hollywood), and Mike Gipson (D-Carson), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC).
“Over 120 lives and hundreds are wounded because of gun violence every single day,” Kounalakis said. “And most tragic of all, our children, our kids, are being gunned down. Firearms are the No. 1 cause of death of children in the United States.”
Wearing orange during Gun Violence Awareness Month began after 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago in 2013. Just one week before, Pendleton marched with her high school majorette squad in U.S. President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade. Responding to her death, friends pled with others to wear orange to raise awareness about gun violence.
Many of the MDA and SDA volunteers who stood with the legislators had been affected by — or have lost loved ones to — gun violence.
Jennifer Redmond lost her 19-year-old daughter Sarayah Jade Redmond on Sept. 25, 2020, to a stray bullet while she was watching a movie in an apartment building in North Sacramento.
Debra Ellison, from the Stockton Chapter of Moms Demand Action, told everyone that she is a “gun violence survivor” and that the “path” chose her in February 2018 when her son was cut down while trying to stop an altercation between two individuals.
Lanisha Jones, a member of Youth Alive!’s The Khadafy Washington Project (KWP), shared that she had lost three brothers in 2013, 2017, and 2023, to gun violence in the Bay Area. Two of the homicides have yet to be solved.
“Imagine calling detectives over and over again hoping that they can give you an update and they have no information years after the incidents,” Jones said. “Imagine that you believe (the person) responsible is walking around free.”
(KWP) sends crisis responders into the immediate aftermath of each Oakland homicide to support the families and friends of victims. KWP also provides emergency financial assistance, relocation services, urgent help applying for victim compensation, and planning funerals.
Gipson said he led a seven-mile “Mothers In Mourning March” in Watts in 2023, with 1,000 mothers who experienced the pain and death of loved ones behind firearms.
The march was hosted by community organizations such as A New Beginning 4 You Foundation, Brady Community Empowerment Movement, East Side Riders Bike Club, Everytown for Gun Safety, Grieving Hearts Foundation, Justice for Murdered Children, NAACP Compton Branch, Watts Area Ministers, Watts Gang Task Force and Women of Watts.
“You see gun violence is personal to me. I just didn’t jump on the bandwagon. Gun Violence knocked on our door,” said Gipson. “As a member of the California Assembly, as a former police officer, I understand that our babies are faced with trauma each and every day, fearing that they will be the next statistic.”
Advocates say firearm injuries and deaths have spiked over the years and are adversely affecting children and adolescents.
According to a February 2024 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), firearms kill more children and adolescents than any other cause, surpassing motor vehicle crashes.
“We cannot quit fighting this horrific epidemic that is taking over our nation,” Ellison said. “Our loved ones are so much more than a number cited on a tally in the ongoing political war over the senseless use of, and access to, weapons.”
Young children who have lost a parent to gun violence were also highlighted at the event. Deborah Grimes’ grandson Jayceon “Ace” Grimes was four years old when his father Greg “Najee” Grimes, 31, was gunned down in front of a nightclub three blocks from the State Capitol on July 5, 2022.
