A walk to end gun violence
Hundreds of Presbyterians turn out for a Community Day event and march in downtown Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE — After hearing from a variety of speakers Saturday morning during the “Healing Not Harm: A Walk to End Gun Violence” Community Day event, commissioners and advisory delegates to the 227th General Assembly prayed and made their way to Milwaukee City Hall.
“Good morning, General Assembly!” said the Rev. Jeannine Oakes Daugherty, pastor of North Shore Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee, from the gazebo at Père Marquette Park.
Oakes Daugherty told the story of Victoria, a security guard at the neighborhood grocery store who was the victim of domestic violence. “Our community has not forgotten her, nor will we,” she said.
Nationwide, 5,821 people have died from gun violence as of June 16. Mass shootings have occurred in 35 states, “so many that it seems we’ve grown numb,” Oakes Daugherty said.
Dr. Andrew Peterson, representative for peacemaking and gun violence prevention in the Office of Public Witness, noted that guns are now the leading cause of death for the nation’s children, for Black men under 44 and pregnant women. “Our lawmakers are not going to save us,” he said. “If we are going to see shalom in our communities, we’re going to have to pick up that work to do ourselves. It’s difficult work to do.”
The Rev. Margery Rossi, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s minister for gun violence prevention and the pastor of South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry, New York, called the narrative of “thoughts and prayers” “a lie. Do not believe it. There are tens of thousands of people of faith across the nation working in many ways to end gun violence — educating, researching, interrupting community violence, teaching children about peacemaking and chopping up guns and forging them into garden tools, which you can watch right behind you.”
Frank Cimorelli, a former Major League pitcher, told the story of losing his son Cam to suicide by firearm. He said he never turns down an opportunity to speak.
“I was convinced he would attempt suicide when he was 14. His interest in guns was increasing, and he wasn’t shy about saying it,” Cimorelli said.
His son tried to take his life in December 2022, but survived. “I can only imagine what went through his mind after he survived,” he said. After he was sent home from the hospital, he later took his life.
There are questions Cimorelli wishes he had asked the doctors who cared for his son. He advocated for mental health checks before selling a gun to someone as well as “increased pressure on politicians” and a registry connected to gun shops. “You as a family or close friend could put a name on that registry they will have to look at,” he said.
Cimorelli thanked organizers, including the Committee on Local Arrangements for the Presbytery of Milwaukee, for inviting him to speak. “Doing things like this,” he said, “is rewarding for me.”
Debra Gillispie founded Mothers Against Gun Violence after losing her only son to gun violence and her only daughter to opioid poisoning. “I had no idea the Presbyterians were fighting for responsible gun laws,” she said. “I want you to know how much wind you’ve added to my sails.”
Awareness is not enough, she said. “Families are left to navigate their grief in silence without the support systems we need,” she said. “In faith spaces, we are called not only to pray but to act.”
“Ending gun violence is not just about what happens in our neighborhoods,” she said. “It’s about what policies we will support and what systems we will change and what communities we will invest in.”
“Anybody here ready to march? Are there Presbyterians in the house?” asked the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, director of advocacy in Presbyterian Life & Witness.
Hawkins recommended Presbyterians focus on strengthening federal and state legislation, declaring gun violence as a national and global public health epidemic, and promoting responsible gun ownership. He then led the group on a march toward Milwaukee City Hall.
With sounds of birds chirping and light traffic passing by, the crowd quietly marched from Père Marquette Park to City Hall, where they gathered in a covered section outside of the building to hear brief words from Hawkins before joining their voices in prayer.
“We believe in peace. We believe in nonviolence. We believe that this nation can do better for our children,” said Hawkins, adding that legislators can do better as well and that children should not have to learn safety maneuvers to avoid falling prey to gunmen.
Hawkins noted that the PC(USA)’s march was inspired by the March for Our Lives, a student-led movement advocating for gun control, following a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. It’s a movement that has led to positive legislative change thanks to continued momentum and lobbying.
“We applaud what they have done, and we dedicate ourselves to doing the same thing,” Hawkins said, encouraging the crowd: “Go back to your state, go back to your municipality, be that advocate because America does not have to be such a violent nation, but it's going to take people of faith to speak out.”
Hawkins went on to stress that advocacy is an important part of being people of faith. “Just like we read Scripture, just like we study, just like we come together to try to discern what God wants for us, God calls us to be people of justice because God is a god of justice, and God is concerned for those who are suffering under injustice.”
Holding small, white sheets of paper to read from, the crowd then read in unison: “Most gracious God, we come before you this day, decrying and lamenting the devastating impact of gun violence in this nation and around the world. Every 12 minutes in the United States someone loses their precious life or the life of someone they love to gun violence. Places that should be safe for people to flourish find themselves under attack. Globally, wars ravage communities and destroy families and your children suffer. You have called us to be bearers of blessing and purveyors of peace, not arbitrators of war. Show us a better way. As we pray for peace to overtake every community, until we are wholly transformed into your Beloved Community, may the church stand with peacemakers, peacekeepers and families in their time of need. In the name of the Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus, please heal our wounded world. Amen!”
That prayer was followed by one minute of silence before the crowd proceeded to a nearby corner, where they stopped to hold hands and repeat the prayer while forming a human chain around City Hall near Red Arrow Park.
Before they began to pray, Hawkins moved through the crowd, chatting with participants and marveling at how many had taken time to come out for the march. The crowd included walkers as well as people in wheelchairs, and many participants wearing T-shirts bearing advocacy messages, such as “Kind people are my kind of people,” “Do justice and love mercy,” “No Kings Chicago” and “It’s not the steeple. It’s the people.”
“This is just really wonderful,” Hawkins said before the crowd began to pray.
Avys Massey, a General Assembly observer from High Point, North Carolina, was among those also marveling at the display of fellowship and advocacy.
“I’m soaking it in, so I can take it back to my church,” said Massey, who was reminded of participating in a similar walk that took place at the General Assembly in St. Louis in 2018.
She said back then, she was “involved but not active” but has since been inspired by years of studying and following reports out of OPW. She is particularly driven by the need to end the scourge of school shootings.
“Sandy Hook should have moved me, and it did,” but recent school shootings have been disturbing, too, she said, given the senselessness of them all.
“I can hardly believe that someone would actually do that to the youth,” she said.
Ruling elder/commissioner Lorraine Cuffie of the Presbytery of Northeast New Jersey said she was motivated to participate in the non-violence walk because “I believe in justice for all, irrespective of who you are.”
The walk also resonated with Maya Marguerite Owens, 18, of the Presbytery of the James in Virginia and Claire Ashley Frazier, 19, of North Alabama Presbytery. They jointly held a sign saying, “Actually … guns do kill people. #1 cause of death of children and youth in the U.S.”
“I wanted to do the walk because I think it's incredibly important that the church talks about topics within the U.S. that are important to not only the people of the church but also the people of the country,” said Owens, a ruling elder/commissioner. “And it's just something that harms a lot of people, and we always talk about how we want to support everyone, and this is a part of our work by helping us stop harmful practices within our country.”
Similarly passionate was Frazier, a Young Adult Advisory Delegate who was wearing a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words, “The opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is justice.”
“I feel very strongly about this,” Frazier said, explaining her participation. “I'm a political science major, and as I've gotten more into the weeds about structural stuff and how this stuff is perpetrated, I think it's very important as an American to use your voice on things you strongly believe in.”
She added, “In times where Christian nationalism is being utilized to hurt people, I think it's very important to illustrate to people that there are Christians out there who care and that are doing something about these issues.”
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