Event organizer Sharmaine Brown, DeKalb Chapter lead for Moms Demand Action, lost her her son Jared Brown when he was killed by a stray bullet in Fulton County in 2015. She started a foundation in his honor, Jared’s Heart of Success, to teach youth how to deescalate conflict peacefully. Photo by Dean Hesse.
By Dean Hesse
On Sunday, June 5, around 50 people clad in orange shirts gathered at Yellow River Park in Stone Mountain to honor individuals impacted by gun violence.
Organized by Moms Demand Action volunteers, the event took place in conjunction with National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which is held the first Friday in June, and Wear Orange Weekend. Wearing orange, the color hunters use to protect themselves, has become a symbol of the gun violence prevention movement.
Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence in the United States, according to the group’s website.
One of the event organizers Sharmaine Brown, DeKalb Chapter lead for Moms Demand Action, said she chose the Gwinnett County park, because she annually hosts a remembrance there for her son Jared Brown who was killed by a stray bullet in2015.
“This park is dear to me. Today [June 5], we are recognizing the hundreds of individuals that were killed by gun violence,” Brown said.
The program featured guest speakers, including survivors who shared their stories, art therapy and a picnic lunch. Moms Demand Action is a grassroots organization that works toward common sense gun legislation through community events at the local, state and federal level.
Founded by Shannon Watts as a Facebook group in 2012 after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, momsdemandaction.org has grown to 8 million volunteers nationwide in 2022, according to Courtney Spriggs, chapter leader for Moms Demand Action Georgia.
Kim Kennebrew, front left, who lost her daughter Randol Holcombe to gun violence in Baltimore in October 2010, releases a balloon with her name along with others in attendance during a Moms Demand Action event at Yellow River Park in Stone Mountain on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Photo by Dean Hesse.
Sarah Peterson, Robin Harpok and Carmel Harpok watch as balloons honoring gun violence victims are released during a Moms Demand Action event at Yellow River Park in Stone Mountain on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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