Maya McFadden Photo
Alex Riveria, Ronnie Vollano, and Tealloway show support from Mothers and Others for Justice.
Participants take out phones to join CAGV text updates.
Activists from throughout the state gathered in Dixwell Wednesday evening for a rally calling for an end to gun violence.
The rally, organized by the group Connecticut Against Gun Violence, coincided with a push for a new statewide initiative — and with the latest nonfatal shooting of a teen in the neighborhood.
Participants pledged to continue pushing lawmakers to support efforts like like the passage of Ethan’s Law in 2019, which requires state gun owners to store firearms safely in homes with minors or face possible federal jail time.
Forty people gathered for the rally at the CT Violence Intervention Program community center at 230 Ashmun St. The group honored victims of gun violence by wearing orange, the favorite color of 15-year-old Chicago girl Hadiya Pendleton who was gunned down while hanging out in a park with friends. Pendleton’s death went viral after it was discovered that days before her murder, her majorette squad had performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration. On Wednesday Hadiya would have turned 24 years old.
Speakers advocated a Connecticut Initiative to Prevent Community Gun Violence. The initiative would establish an Office of Community Gun Violence Prevention tasked with funding and implementing grassroots programs and strategies to reduce gun violence.
Janet Rice.
CT Against Gun Violence (CAGV) Community Outreach Coordinator Janet Rice smiled at the sight of a cloth mural being made at the event. Rice stepped up to the mural table and put both hands out in front of her.
“Orange and blue, please,” she said to two young volunteers with paint sponges in hand.
A light layer of paint was then spread on Rice’s hands. She flipped her hands over and placed them on a blank space of the fabric beside a handful of other prints. The top of the mural read “These hands helped end gun violence.”
Rice, who lives in Hartford, is the mother of Shane Oliver, who was 20 years old when shot and killed October 20, 2012, 55 days before the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. Rice’s granddaughter’s bedroom at her home is also decorated with hand prints on her wall, she said. Per her granddaughter’s request Rice’s family each left colorful hand prints on her wall.
About two months ago Rice also lost her godson to gun violence. At the moment her street in Hartford has two makeshift memorials only feet apart from recent acts of gun violence.
On her way to the event, Rice said, she heard there was a shooting going on in Hartford. During the event it was reported that a nonfatal shooting of a 16-year-old had occurred about five blocks away in New Haven, on Goffe Street between Orchard and Sperry.
Participants take out phones to join CAGV text updates.
At the podium, Rice asked members of the crowd to take out their phonse and text “STOPGV” to 72572 to join CAGV in its mission to press state legislators to work towards ending gun violence.
A proclamation from the governor declared this National Gun Violence Awareness Week. A second proclamation named June 2 National Gun Violence Awareness Day in New Haven.
Hartford activist Bridgitte Prince began attending CAGV’s events after the Sandy Hook shooting.
In hand, Prince carried a picture of her friend’s son Randell “Jun Jun” Jones Jr., who was killed at 3 years old while in a parked car. “I usually know each victim or their families,” Prince said.
Prince said she supports the recent state push to end gun violence but thinks leaders have to “tackle urban areas differently” from suburban areas’ gun issues. She argued that suburban areas have more issues with gun storage, while urban areas have more issues with illegal guns that are “easy for kids to get their hands on.”
“Where are these guns coming from? Who are the suppliers to the Black and brown community?” she asked.
Bridgitte Prince with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
She said one step to ending gun violence should include shutting down gun manufactures throughout the state.
“I’m not immune. I know it could be me,” Prince said. “We’re fighting for out lives.”
Elected officials addressing the crowd in support of the initiative included U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
CAGV #WearOrange Rally to observe National Gun Violence Awareness Week in honor victims of gun violence, at the CT Violence Intervention Program Community Center in New Haven.
Posted by CT Against Gun Violence on Wednesday, June 2, 2021