The following statement regarding gun violence was made by Mayor Sherman P. Lea, Sr. during the City Council meeting on Monday, June 3, 2019:
On Friday, June 7, our nation will observe the Fifth Annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day by encouraging all citizens to wear orange to remember the victims of gun violence and work together to address gun violence in our Country, Commonwealth, and City. This year’s event is especially mournful as it follows by only a week the horrific tragedy that befell Virginia Beach.
Gun violence kills, maims, and traumatizes our citizens, especially our children, every day. I once again encourage all Roanokers to join me on June 7, and wear orange to demonstrate our commitment to those who have suffered the tragic consequences of gun violence.
But wearing orange, sharing our thoughts and prayers, and offering our condolences can never be sufficient. As I have said before and I will continue to say: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We cannot accept gun violence as the new normal in America. We can no longer let our communities be defined by gun violence. We must reclaim the values that make us a community. We must stand together, weep together, talk together, and work together to find effective solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in our Country.
Fellow Roanokers, I am frustrated and angry about this crisis of gun violence, not only for the tragedy last Friday in Virginia Beach, but also for the all-too-frequent shooting events that occur in our City. But my spirit is renewed, my commitment is unyielding, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We must work together and reject the premise that gun violence is an acceptable response under any circumstances. A first step is to establish the Task Force on Gun Violence and challenge this task force to provide this Council meaningful recommendations for action. I proudly join my colleagues in this commitment.
A part of this effort requires us, all segments of our city, to reflect on the challenges that we, as a community, face from increased violence and hatred in all forms, including gun violence, that divide us as a community.
We must take responsibility for our community and confront violence and hatred in all forms. We cannot celebrate our diversity but let distrust, disrespect, and hate foment this division.
This division will tear apart our essential common bond. We must find solutions to violence together.
For this reason, I join with my colleagues on City Council in the formation of the Task Force on Gun Violence.
We must reject the notion that we cannot find solutions to these challenges. We are united by the common good, articulated by our Founding Fathers, that all men and women are created equal, endowed by our Creator with the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our United States of America strives to preserve, protect, and perfect these founding principles.
As we recommit ourselves to these challenges, let us find inspiration in the faces of our children to confront these challenges and succeed. We must succeed for our children.
Abraham Lincoln pleaded with a war-torn Nation to appeal to the better angels of our nature in reuniting the Country. Martin Luther King, Jr. urged us to become the light to rid the darkness of segregation.
And, perhaps, the eloquent and powerful words of Bobby Kennedy, given after telling his campaign crowd in Indiana that Dr. King had been assassinated, provide guidance to us today:
“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who suffer within our Country….
Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: To tame the savageness in man and make gentle the life of this world.”
As we remember the victims of gun violence today and this Friday, let us dedicate ourselves to each other that we work together to promote, preserve, and perpetuate the principles that form our common bond, founded in love, respect, and community.
Let us reject violence and support the prosecution of those who commit violence in our community.
Let us listen to the better angels of our nature, ignite the light to rid the darkness, and make gentle life for all citizens, and especially our children, in our All-America City.
