The first Friday of June is National Gun Violence Awareness Day and, this year, it was also the day that Mayor Ben Walsh chose to officially declare Gun Violence Awareness Month in Syracuse.
Walsh unveiled the proclamation surrounded by local lawmakers and community leaders in orange (the color adopted by the gun violence awareness movement), some of whom themselves lost friends or family to gun violence.
Walsh says Syracuse doesn’t deserve this kind of pain.
"Think about what this city and what this community would be like without gun violence. Think about it," he told the crowd. "Think about your lives without gun violence. It's a beautiful thing and it's possible."
In recent years, firearms have become a leading cause of death among U.S. children and Walsh's administration, including the Mayor's Office to Reduce Gun Violence, is working to lower those numbers locally.
At Friday's event, lawmakers and other leaders focused less on policy change and more on community outreach.
Hassan Stevens of the Good Life Youth Foundation says his organization uses "hip hop culture and youth culture, the culture that resonates with our young adults, to really stabilize them socially and emotionally."
Then the young people are exposed to business and entrepreneurship, said Stephens: "We've seen [those] as a major factor in deterring them and steering them away from some of the violence that's happening in the streets, some of the activity that even puts them in a position to have to respond to the harsh environments that they grow up in."
As part of Friday's event, three trees were planted at Ormand Spencer Park.
Each tree commemorates a young person killed by firearms in Syracuse, and it's the beginning of an annual tradition, says Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens.
"Let's plant trees to remember our loved ones," she said, "because trees represent life."
Supporters of the Gun Violence Awareness proclamation can be seen throughout the area wearing bright orange this month because, they say, it represents what hunters wear to signal they’re a person, not a target.
