Bells ring out across Philly for National Gun Violence Awareness day

On a sunny Friday afternoon in University City, the sound of bells rang out through the sky, echoing down 38th Street as a crowd of dozens walked toward Philadelphia Episcopal Church, remembering those lost to gun violence in Philadelphia and beyond.

To highlight the city’s gun violence epidemic and to end its yearlong season, Penn Live Arts’ Toll the Bell, a citywide sound installation, chimed bells and different sounds at more than 40 locations in Philadelphia. The symphony of sound that rang out from West Philadelphia to Old City on Friday, National Gun Violence Awareness Day, honored people killed in gun homicides, the loved ones they left behind, and those working to fight against the epidemic.

The bells were a call to people to think about what Philadelphia has lost, but also what it could change, said Christopher Gruits, executive and artistic director of Penn Live Arts.

“But Toll the Bell is not a profile in tragedy,” he said. “It is a sonic disruption as a call to action, a warning, and an invitation to Philadelphians to stop and reflect on our fellow citizens, our brothers and sisters who have lost their lives, and also to learn more about this urgent issue.”

At an interfaith vigil at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts at 36th and Walnut Streets that preceded the tolling of the bells, religious leaders prayed and spoke of the importance of continuing the work of reducing gun violence in Philadelphia and across the nation.

Rabbi Shawn Zevit, of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, cited words from the Book of Jeremiah as he decried gun violence and urged those in attendance to pray for peace.

The event, he said, was “to remind us to ring the bell of our souls, not only of our ears. And as you said centuries ago, seek the peace of the city where you are and pray for it. For when the city is in peace, you will have peace.”

After the service, those gathered walked four blocks to the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, on South 38th Street, as the sound of bells grew louder with each step. As the group passed Tabernacle United Church, a speaker played a recording of church bells. Across the street, Carl Beck and Meagan Esterby rang hand bells in unison.

At cultural centers, masjids, and churches, church bells, hand bells, and speakers blaring bell recordings began to ring at 1 p.m. for five minutes, representing the one in five Americans who have lost someone to gun violence.

There have been 89 gun homicides and 338 nonfatal shootings in Philadelphia so far this year, according to data compiled by the District Attorney’s Office.

The bells, while often thought of as sounds of solemn occasions, were meant to serve as reminders of people injured in shootings or lost to gun violence, but also as a call to action for those working to make Philadelphia safer for the future, said the Rev. Charles “Chaz” Lattimore Howard, university chaplain and vice president for Social Equity & Community at the University of Pennsylvania. The sounds that reverberated throughout the city were signals for those who will keep fighting until gun violence is no longer an epidemic.

“There is a version of our city, our state, our country, and our world where we are not seeing gun violence on TV with regularity,” said Howard. “And I believe we will see that world. Because of people like you.”

“So today’s not just about tolling bells,” he added. “When the Liberty Bell was rung years ago, it wasn’t just about ringing the bell, it was a call to action. A call to hope. And that is what we are doing today. Not just listening. But acting.”