Pro Athletes Form Council Promoting Gun Violence Awareness
Five athletes are taking the next step in promoting gun violence awareness in the United States.
Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation's largest gun violence prevention organization, announced that players from the NBA, NFL and WNBA are partnering to form the Everytown Athletic Council. The council's founding members include the WNBA's Devereaux Peters, NBA's Joakim Noah and NFL's Xavier Rhodes, Delanie Walker and DeAndre Washington.
"I’m thrilled to be one of the founders of Everytown’s Athletic Council. The movement to end gun violence is really important to me and my family,” said Noah. " ... Through this Council, we will be able to build on this work and raise even more awareness that the current situation is not acceptable and that we each can play a role in ending gun violence.”
The group's first form of action will be to wear orange on Friday, June 7 in observance of National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Additionally, WNBA players have been given "Wear Orange" t-shirts and orange shoelaces to wear over the Wear Orange weekend in solidarity with the movement.
In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors will host 20 survivors of gun violence and Moms Demand Action volunteers during Game 4 of the 2019 NBA Finals. Warriors coach Steve Kerr will also wear orange during his pregame press conference in support of the Wear Orange campaign.
