Locals of Highland Park got here collectively for a strengthening Fourth of July parade in remembrance of the mass shootings in Highland Park and Chicago that claimed quite a few lives throughout final yr’s Fourth of July parade.
To commemorate the Fourth of July parade mass taking pictures’s one-year anniversary, residents of Highland Park and Chicago got here collectively right this moment.
In Highland Park, Illinois, on July 4, 2022, a mass taking pictures passed off at 10:14 am throughout a Fourth of July parade, claiming seven lives whereas and 48 others have been harm by bullets or shrapnel.
As an alternative of the normal Fourth of July parade, these cities held group walks in reminiscence of the victims, which have been preceded by a ceremony of remembrance at Highland Park Metropolis Corridor and different commemorative actions.
“No one needed a parade. It was inappropriate,” Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering mentioned Tuesday. “Nevertheless it was vital for us to say that evil would not win. And that is our parade route, and that is our group that we’re taking again.”
On July 4, 2023, the event serves as a reminder of them.
In response to The Financial Instances, the variety of fatalities from mass shootings within the US has elevated over the previous yr. A mass taking pictures occurred on the 6500 block of South Martin Luther King Jr Drive on the identical day, July 4, 2022.
The Chicago space alone skilled 47 mass shootings between July 4, 2022 and June 30, 2023, based on the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. There have been 272 accidents and 46 fatalities because of this.
The town hosted a sequence of occasions geared toward giving individuals “a possibility to interact with the day and collect as a group in the way in which that feels most snug to them,” metropolis communications supervisor Amanda Bennett mentioned.
The town approached the occasion planning with a trauma-informed perspective, Bennett mentioned.
Rotering mentioned a third-grader requested her at Metropolis Corridor this yr: “‘Will we ever get to have a good time the Fourth of July?’ And that simply actually broke my coronary heart for thus many people who’ve grown up right here, who raised our youngsters right here, who’ve great reminiscences.”
“There isn’t any purpose that this one act of cowardice and hate ought to take away that pleasure from this group,” she mentioned.
Rotering was set to talk at a ceremony at Metropolis Corridor that additionally included a musical efficiency and a second of silence at 10:14 am to mark the precise time police say the primary shot was fired. Then, attendees walked the parade route.
“The Group Stroll will symbolise the reclaiming of the 2022 parade route as we construct resiliency collectively,” the town mentioned on its web site.
At night time, the town deliberate to have a drone present as a substitute to keep away from the “very acquainted sounds” of fireworks, Rotering mentioned. “I recognise that for thus many in our group, it’s too quickly.”
There can be no floats, performers, or giveaways.
Reporters have been requested to not movie in areas affected by gun violence and to keep away from operating footage from the earlier yr’s occasion. Media helicopters have been additionally not allowed to fly overhead to seize footage.
Attendees needed to register prior to every occasion, current a QR code, and undergo safety, so safety was strict. In response to Ghida Neukirch, metropolis supervisor, there have been over 5,000 individuals registered for the day.
Individuals who did not wish to attend may additionally watch the occasions through Zoom.