Donnitta Marie Sinclair: Growing, Rebuilding, Restoring, and Healing Our Community
2.1.2023
Black Resilience in the Gun Violence Prevention Movement
On June 20, 2020, I lost my beloved son, Horace Lorenzo Anderson, in Seattle, Washington at the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest (CHOP) while he was standing up for what he believed in.
Black History Month means remembering and honoring lives that were once here and now are gone, many were taken too soon, including my son. We honor their lives and how they paved the way for people that look like me, and for people that don’t look like me, to come together to build community.
This month is about change. It’s about growing, rebuilding, restoring, and healing our community together. Our resiliency in this movement exists because we’re doing the hard work of building awareness, uplifting voices, and not looking the other way. We know that we need everyone to work together to help end the gun violence epidemic in our country.
Joining Moms Demand Action has given me the opportunity to meet other survivors of gun violence and create a space for mutual support.
But some voices remain missing from this conversation. As a woman, I can only say from my experience that I believe that Black men grow and benefit especially from these conversations.
There are so many people I look up to—my 84-year-old grandmother, my 90-year-old aunt and activists like Martin Luther King and Harriett Tubman, leaders who paved the way for our communities, who stood up for our rights, and for the rights of everyone, no matter their skin color.
If you’re interested in learning more and joining the conversation, text READY to 644-33. There’s always a place for you.
Black History Month
This Black History Month, we hold space for the Black survivors of gun violence and recognize the gun safety advocates leading the charge at all levels to keep our communities safe. We know that we still have a long way to go to end gun violence—particularly its impact on the Black community, and we’re holding space for survivors of gun violence and Black advocates to continue to effect positive change. We are continuously working to stop gun violence through both grassroots and national channels, as we focus on and elevate the work and successes of the many Black voices who have helped progress the gun violence prevention movement and keep their communities—and the country—safe.
