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FREE Vol. 38 No. 25
June 19, 2024 ■ Also serving Garfield Park ■ austinweeklynews.com
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By SAM TUCKER Contributing Reporter
Chants calling for peace filled Austin earlier this month during the Invest in Peace – March & Community Pop-up event organized by BUILD. The march and pop-up event’s pur-
SAM TUCKER
Members of the Kaos Drumline dance between their drumming while they lead the march on West Harrison Street, Wednesday, June 5. pose was to honor victims of gun violence and to call an end to gun violence on the West Side. The march was a part of Wear Orange Day, a national movement that honors victims of gun violence that began in Chicago in 2013. The Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development, or BUILD, is a violence prevention and youth development organization that is based in Austin. Wednesday’s march was a part of
Austin goes green, page 8
Juneteenth Illinois kicks off the holiday with scholarship, call for equity
Austin residents march, calling ‘peace up, guns down’’ It comes as part of ‘Wear Orange Day’, a national movement honoring gun violence victims
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State and county politicians joined in organizers’ call for racial equity By MICHAEL BANIEWICZ Contributing Reporter
more than 100 events BUILD organizes on the West Side every year. BUILD’s mission is to create opportunity and support for youth and adults. About 250 people marched that day through the Austin area, organizers said, wearing orange in solidarity while Austin residents, members of BUILD and community advocates called for an end to gun violence.
Illinois and Cook County officials gathered earlier this month to kick off the upcoming celebrations for Juneteenth at Malcolm X College. Barbara Deer, the executive director of Juneteenth Illinois, a nonprofit organization that commemorates Juneteenth, promotes related festivities and offers scholarships for students on the West and South Sides, said that initiatives like these are part of the four pillars that the nonprofit focuses on.
See WEAR ORANGE on page 6
See JUNETEENTH on page 3
WS ! NEF H S A L
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