Community shows support for National Gun Violence Awareness Day

GROSSE POINTES/HARPER WOODS — A number of students and community members are again encouraging residents to don something orange to show their support for an end to gun violence.

It’s all part of the national Wear Orange weekend June 6-8. Locally, there will be an event where people can purchase orange flowers and prepare for the weekend from 5 to 9 p.m. May 29 at Otherworld Nursery on Mack Avenue in Grosse Pointe City, a student-led rally from 7:25 to 8 a.m. June 6 at Grosse Pointe North High School in Grosse Pointe Woods, and a silent vigil to honor the victims of gun violence from 4 to 5 p.m. June 6 at Grosse Pointe Woods City Hall.

This is an issue that hits close to home for many in the community. In February 2023, the Grosse Pointe Public School System lost two of its own to a mass shooting on the Michigan State University campus that claimed the lives of North graduate Arielle Anderson, 19, of Harper Woods, and Grosse Pointe South High School graduate Brian Fraser, 20, of Grosse Pointe Park.

Marissa Ford, a senior at North, was one of the students who started a chapter of Students Demand Action at North a few years ago. During a May 13 Grosse Pointe Board of Education meeting at Brownell Middle School in Grosse Pointe Farms, Ford said that this is a “threat that is relevant to students and teachers every day.”

The board voted 5-0 May 13 in favor of a proclamation declaring the first Friday in June as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Board members Virginia “Ginny” Jeup and Sean Cotton weren’t present for the May 13 meeting.

“We wear orange to raise awareness about gun violence,” Ford said. “Gun violence is a preventative issue.”

Board member Laura Hull thanked Ford “for continuing to advocate” for herself and her fellow students.

Board member Valarie St. John said that this is “a student-led initiative,” and that administrators at each building in the district can do whatever they deem to be the most appropriate for their school.

The Grosse Pointe Shores City Council was one of several local cities that also passed a proclamation denoting June 6 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day, approving it unanimously May 20.

Shores City Council member Donn Schroder, who said he’s been a trauma surgeon for more than 30 years, said that he was wearing an orange tie at the meeting to show his support for this effort.

“I’ve seen my share of unnecessary (gun violence-related) deaths,” Schroder said. “Gun violence awareness is so important.”

Grosse Pointe Park resident Michelle White thanked Shores officials for supporting the proclamation.

“We just want to have the conversation … because it is killing our kids,” White said. “It is killing people in our country. … It has touched our community very deeply.”

Those who want to show support for this initiative are asked to wear something orange, plant orange flowers, tie an orange ribbon around a tree or take another visible step to demonstrate their opposition to gun violence.