A group of parents gathered at the Monroe County Public Library to make artistic boxes to honor victims of gun violence on February 15th.
The first week of February is Gun Violence Survivor Week. The organization Mom Demands Action fights against gun violence, and held the event to bring people’s awareness to the issue.
More than 65,000 people die or get injured by gunfire in the United States each year. The “Soul Box” project aims to show people the magnitude of the number, and the emotional toll it takes on survivors. Participants designed their own hand-folded boxes and left a message on them to pay tribute to someone killed.
Family members of victims also shared their feelings of losing a loved one. Jennifer Crossley, sister of a victim of gunfire, lost her elder brother in Chicago in 2004. A friend with a gun killed her brother after having an argument.
Jennifer Crossley, sister of a victim of gun violence, talks about the pain of her loss.
“My brother had a fiancé at the time, and a little girl, and last year he would have turned 40. “It is so hard,” Crossley said through tears.
She goes through a hard time in February every year because it reminds her of her brother’s death. “It just hurts so bad because you will often think of what could have been, what should have been,” Crossley said.
Crossley has spent much of her time in the community and hopes it would make her brother proud. “I just continue to keep myself going and continuing because I know that that’s what he would have wanted us to do,” she said.
A state bill to armed teachers and staff at schools has passed the Indiana Senate. The organization said they took the public funding out of the bill, “and that’s how our victories go in our state legislature. But, it’s not a clean victory.” The Bloomington chapter of Mom Demands Action plans a demonstration at the statehouse next week.
