Wear Orange Today

Email from Khary Penebaker

June 2nd would have been Hadiya Pendleton's 18th birthday, but she won't be able to enjoy it with her friends and family because she was shot and killed in 2013. Like the other more than 30,000 Americans, her life was cut short due to gun violence.

Hadiya's high school classmates will be graduating this month. While Hadiya won't get to walk across that stage, her friends are all going to wear orange on June 2 in her honor---and to inspire action to stop the gun violence that takes too many lives in this country; violence that steals 88 American lives every day.

On the first ever National Gun Violence Awareness Day - Tuesday, June 2nd - everyone participating in the campaign should wear one piece of orange clothing, take a selfie and post it to any social network with the hashtag #WearingOrange.


I will be #WearingOrange for my mother, Joyce, who committed suicide with a gun when I was very young. I will be #WearingOrange for Jordan Davis, for Trayvon Martin, for the 20 children and 6 adults that were murdered at Sandy Hook, for Zina Daniel, for Oak Creek, for Aurora, for Virginia Tech, for Isla Vista, for Columbine; for every mother, father, sister, brother, friend, who has lost a loved one due to senseless gun violence.

UniteBlue is proud to join a rapidly growing list of cultural icons, for-profit and nonprofit organizations---including MTV, Amnesty International, and all of the artists at Motown Records---and everyday people, in an effort to turn our country orange for National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Together, we will honor the many thousands of Americans killed by guns every year and send a loud message that we must do more to end gun violence in our country now.

Join me and my #UniteBlue family in #WearingOrange. Orange represents the idea that if we come together, we can---and will---bring an end to gun violence in our country. Watch the inspiring story of how teens on Chicago's South Side turned their friend's memorial into a symbol for the value of human life.


Khary Penebaker
@UniteBlueWI

P.S. Here are some sample tweets that you can you use to help turn Twitter orange:

I'm #WearingOrange because there's more we all can do to save American lives from gun violence. Get involved at wearorange.org

Today, I'm #WearingOrange for the 1st ever National #GunViolenceAwareness Day.
Join me -> wearorange.org
I'm #wearingorange today for #GunViolenceAwareness Day. Are you? wearorange.org
Today, I'm #wearingorange for __________. Who will you wear orange for? wearorange.org
I'm #WearingOrange today because there's more we all can do to save American lives from gun violence.

Thank you for your support!

I hope this is OK in GD. It's about stopping gun violence. I don't think that is controversial. But if I am wrong, please let me know and I will post elsewhere