It's Personal

I never speak out about anything but cancer prevention. You will never hear who I vote for or how I feel about many relevant subjects today. There's a good reason for that. When I founded Less Cancer, I understood that if I wanted to move the needle on cancer prevention I needed to stay focused. I could not be attached to other agendas or dilute the message of our work if we were to make progress in cancer prevention.

Fast forward 12 years since our founding when just last month I was in the basement of the Emanuel AME Church at 10 Calhoun St. in Charleston, South Carolina. On June 17, 2015, nine people were shot and killed inside the church. A 21-year-old white male suspect named Dylann Roof was arrested shortly after and charged with nine counts of murder. I had a conversation with the Church Treasurer Rosetta Singleton, who told me we were speaking at the very spot on which the shooting occurred and pointed to a picture on the wall of the victims. For a moment, I felt what I thought was a tear slipping out of the corner of my eye and I looked down with the hopes it would go unnoticed. It didn't; Rosetta hugged me. Since my visit with Rosetta, I have had an indelible mark on my heart. I was moved to see how these victims of unspeakable violence responded to the hate of a mad man with a gun with love.

The sorrow for the community of Emanuel AME Church in Charleston is compounded by the shame I feel for this racist crime, but I know that these feelings by themselves have little meaning unless I do what I can to speak up to end gun violence.

I have been wondering what do about that visit, how to make a difference and how to contribute in a way that would not be a distraction for my work with Less Cancer. It burns me: How we can stop gun violence in the United States? The news of the recent shootings in Oregon again push me to speak up and act on making schools safe from gun violence. No person in the United States wants to see more senseless student deaths.

People often speak about gun violence as if they had no control, or it wasn't their job, or they did not have a role in bringing about change; however, I have come to believe just the opposite. We all have a voice and a place in the fight against gun violence. No matter if we are the Less Cancer guy, a banker, a lawyer or work in a factory, everybody can help.

The Oregon school shooting is the 45th school shooting this year. Nobody wants to see this happen. Nick Kristof in The New York Times recently pointed out that, "In America, more preschoolers are shot dead each year (82 in 2013) than police officers who are in the line of duty (27 in 2013), according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI."

No one wants to outlaw guns. What we all want is to protect Americans from unnecessary and preventable gun violence especially in schools.

I am speaking off-topic to Less Cancer, but I speak from my heart. At Less Cancer, we want to help change lifestyle, consumer habits and policies that can save millions of lives. My heart tells me this is a similar struggle.

School shootings must end. I appeal to you to reach out to civic and political leaders and make them act. Yes, there are solutions, and they lay with us. Children must not die in school and we must end these senseless deaths. Engage today. Get involved.