ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — City and county leaders joined members of the Rochester Peace Collective and the Roc Against Gun Violence Coalition on Friday to make a proclamation and announce activities throughout June.
At the conference, city leaders proclaimed June 2 as Gun Violence Awareness Day, as well as proclaiming the following weekend as “Wear Orange Weekend.”
The color orange was chosen because it’s a color that hunters would wear to protect human life. It is now being translated as a symbolic color of gun violence awareness.
According to leaders at the conference, Friday would’ve marked the 26th birthday of Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed in Chicago at 15 years old.
Roc the Peace Founder Sirena Cotton started the organization after losing her 16-year-old son to gun violence back in 2007. She also shared that two days ago, she lost her 18-year-old grandson to gun violence as well.
“He was a funny, happy, goofy kid, loved his family, and had a huge heart,” Cotton said. “His heart will be beating in someone else’s body because he was also an organ donor. That tells you the type of person, at 18 years old, that he was.”