Wear Orange to Celebrate Hadiya Pendleton on What Would've Been Her 18th Birthday

Hadiya Pendleton was 15 years old when she was fatally shot at a local park in Chicago. Two years later, friends, family, community members, and supporters nationwide commemorate her and countless others lost to gun violence by wearing orange on what would have been her 18th birthday. 

Hadiya's friends created Project Orange Tree to raise awareness of gun violence in their community and all over the nation. They chose the color orange in light of hunter's orange, a very bright and fluorescent color worn in order to not be targeted by other people. The project has garnered international attention and with the development of the Wear Orange campaign has started the first National Gun Violence Awareness Day in honor of Hadiya and others taken by gun violence.


Photo: Chicago Sun-Times

Joneka Percentie is a rising junior studying Mass Media Communications, Africana Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies at UNC Charlotte. When she's not working with SPARK Movement, or tweeting @jpercentie, she enjoys singing, dancing, and sleeping. Email her at joneka.percentie@forharriet.com.