Proclaiming support towards gun safety, Matawan Borough Mayor Joseph Altomonte signed a proclamation declaring June 1 National Gun Violence Awareness Day.
In January 2013, a teenager, who marched in former President Barack Obama’s second inaugural parade, was tragically shot and killed just weeks later. Hadiya Pendleton should be now celebrating her 21st birthday, according to the borough council agenda.
To help honor Hadiya and the 96 Americans whose lives were cut short and the countless survivors who are injured in shootings every day, a national coalition of organizations has designated June 1, the first Friday in June, as the fourth National Gun Violence Awareness Day, according to the borough council agenda.
The idea was inspired by a group of Hadiya’s friends, who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange; they chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods and orange is a color that symbolizes the value of human life, according to the borough council agenda.
Altomonte read and signed the proclamation with an orange pen on May 15 during the council meeting that was held at the borough municipal community center.
After Altomonte signed the proclamation, Monmouth County Group Moms Demands Action member and resident Yvette Reyes, along with Matawan-Aberdeen Middle School teacher and Monmouth County Group Moms Demands Action member Amy Raiola spoke on behalf of the organization Moms Demands Action For Gun Sense In America.
So far in Monmouth county, 24 municipalities have signed this proclamation, according to Monmouth County Group Moms Demands Action For Gun Sense In America Co-Lead Theresa Turner.
The Moms Demands Action For Gun Sense In America is a national organization that was started after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 and now has more than five million supporters nationwide, according to Turner.
After she moved to Monmouth County two years ago, Turner said, she started the Monmouth County Group Moms Demands Action For Gun Sense In America because there wasn’t a group in the county. Currently the group has more than 400 members.
“The proclamations are sort of the nonpolitical side of what we do. This is only about awareness, and it is about honoring gun violence survivors and raising awareness that this is a problem in our country,” Turner said.
Turner said the organization provides an educational program about gun safety, lobbies legislators when gun bills come up in the state Legislature or in Congress and hosts an event every month that relates to gun awareness and safety.
Reyes said she is a single mother who loves her two daughters very much. She was constantly worried about their safety while in their schools because of the gun violence problem.
“As we have seen, it can happen in every town; and a mother like me just wants to keep our children safe and out of harm’s way. I have been living in fear for my own children’s safety for years. That’s why, around last year, I got involved with a group of other moms who feel the same and want to do something,” Reyes said.
Raiola said she is a sixth-grade language arts teacher, who has been teaching in the district for five years. She has been a member since February, right after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. That shooting resulted in the deaths of 17 people, including 14 students.
“I came to witness the proclamation as both a [group] member and a teacher in the district. It is important to me as a teacher to know that my students and I are safe in our schools. It makes me feel safer knowing that our mayors are willing to work to end gun violence,” Raiola said.
Anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 1 to help raise awareness about gun violence. By wearing orange on June 1, Americans will raise awareness about gun violence and honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors, according to the borough council agenda.
“I think it’s absolutely stunning to me that this issue has [reached] across the political divide in Monmouth County and I think probably in many states now where it use to be a very partisan issue. … In seeing what happened with our proclamations this year, there are so many mayors who may be conservative and may be Republican who just said, ‘Who could be against this?,'” Turner said.
For more information about the organization visit www.momsdemandaction.org.
Contact Vashti Harris at vharris@newspapermediagroup.com.
