American students are more likely to die from gun violence than car accidents. It seems as if we serve as potential targets wherever we go. The horror that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School is still remembered around the world, but perhaps the most tragic thing about it is that almost 100 school shootings have taken place in the two and a half years since. With school shootings becoming more frequent, my generation now lives with a lingering fear that we may not return home at the end of the school day.
When I think of gun violence, I think of waking up to a CNN alert telling me that over 80 people had been shot in an Aurora, Colo. movie theater, less than thirty miles from my home. I spent that day desperately trying to contact friends who had been both at the theater and around the area. It was an experience I never want to go through again, a wake-up call both for myself and many others: gun violence continues to be a fatal issue, and something needs to change.
Last month, NFTY, the Reform Jewish Youth Movement, announced a founding partnership in the Wear Orange campaign, a new effort to amplify existing work to reduce gun violence in America. It was created by a group of high school students in Chicago, who were inspired to act by the shooting death of their friend Hadiya Pendleton, a 15 year-old high school student who marched in President Obama’s 2nd inaugural parade in 2012 and was tragically shot and killed in Chicago just a week later. The campaign’s creators wanted to honor Hadiya and the other Americans whose lives are cut short by gun violence each day – as well as the countless survivors whose lives are forever altered by shootings. They designated today, June 2, 2015, what would have been Hadiya’s 18th birthday, as the first annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. They’ve asked for participants to wear orange, the color hunters use in the woods to make their presence known to other hunters.
Addressing the crisis of gun violence is not just an issue for my generation, but also for the entire Jewish people. As it says in the Book of Leviticus (19:16), “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed.” As Jews, The Torah, our most holy text, demands us to act in the face of injustice, and so we refuse to do nothing in the face of gun violence. We have an obligation to say that we are tired of senseless and preventable deaths. We have an opportunity to beat our firearms into plowshares and our handguns into pruning hooks.
In NFTY, we are not standing idly by as acts of gun violence continue. We are partnering with the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Everytown for Gun Safety, and other organizations dedicated to the prevention of gun violence to enable our teens across the United States and Canada to make a difference. By contacting our legislators and local government to demand action, writing articles in our local newspapers, delivering sermons and D’vrei Torah in our synagogues, and educating others on the pressing issue of gun violence, thousands of NFTY teens will make a difference both in our own communities and nationwide.
We will do this wearing orange and mobilizing our leadership throughout the rest of June, calling on everyone to work together to prevent gun violence. To stand with us, visit WearOrange.org and use the site’s pledge tool to change your social media profile picture and share why you’re wearing orange today. NFTY isn’t standing idly by while our neighbor’s blood is shed in our streets, houses, and high schools. Join the conversation with the hashtag #WearingOrange.
As we move on from today, know that Wear Orange isn’t just about one day or one person. It’s about a frame of mind and ongoing commitment to end gun violence in America. Throughout the month of June and after, we will continue to honor the lives – and lost human potential – of Americans as a result of gun violence. We’ll remember the lives of those lost at Aurora, Sandy Hook, and throughout North America, working towards a day when these lives lost will be more of a distant memory, and less of a horrific reality.
Taylor Gleeson is an incoming freshman at American University and incoming social action vice president for the North American Federation of Temple Youth.
