2 days ago
Blue Bridge to turn orange to honor gun violence victims
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Blue Bridge in downtown Grand Rapids will turn orange this weekend to honor victims of gun violence and bring awareness to the issue.
It's the 11th year of the national '' movement, which always falls near National Gun Violence Awareness Day, observed the first Friday in June. Orange lights will spotlight the iconic Blue Bridge over the Grand River beginning Thursday night and through dusk Sunday.
On average, 125 people are shot and killed daily in the United States. Hundreds more are wounded or traumatized, according to Wear Orange.
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The movement encourages people to commemorate the weekend by wearing orange clothing, planting orange marigolds in honor of someone impacted by gun violence, changing the lights on their homes to orange or tying an orange ribbon around their trees or porches.
The color orange was chosen because it 'has a long and proud history in the gun violence prevention movement,' according to the . It was the color friends and family of Hadiya Pendleton wore after she was shot and killed in Chicago in 2013 — her death sparked awareness campaign Project Orange Tree, which inspired Wear Orange. It's also the color worn by hunters 'to protect themselves and others,' the movement says.
Wear Orange says its movement is active in every state and Washington, D.C.
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