Wear Orange Day June 2, 2018 was an impressive call to action locally. After Washtenaw County Moms Demand Action leader, Celeste Kanpurwala poignantly recounted losing her own father to self inflicted gun violence, our own PPGV member, Sonya Lewis took the stage. Lewis admitted that when asked “How to console small children about safety in schools?” she had no best answer. She spoke about the importance of leading through sustained action. Hearing her read the names, ages, and homes of the 10 Michigan children who have died this year from gun shot wounds brought home our pain in this struggle – a struggle that communities of color have known and endured since the crack epidemic of the 70s and 80s. Dr. Lewis’s remarks are attached to this message. file:///C:/Users/JSWalden/Downloads/WearOrangeRemarksSonyaLewis.pdf
Saturday’s roster included Debbie Dingell, who talked about her Red Flag bill – a piece of legislation that would enable guns to be temporarily removed from individuals who are at risk of harming themselves or others. Crafted with Republicans and modeled after an Indiana bill that VP Pence supported, Rep. Dingell hopes to gain further bipartisan support in Congress in order to pass this life saving bill. We hope you will call Rep. Dingell’s office and thank her for introducing this legislation. It is important for her to hear our supportive voices, particularly since she informed us that she has recently become a focus of the NRA, receiving hate mail and being targeted in vicious TV ads.
Recent Pioneer High School graduate, Marquan Kane called us to admit the role of poverty in gun violence. Sheriff Jerry Clayton, as well as several other student activists and hosts from Moms Demand Action spoke passionately about the urgency of action.
Orange was everywhere inspiring us physicians and community folk to keep the faith!
Never Again. Enough. Not One More.