A man from the bi-state wants to bring awareness to the growing number of people shot and killed every day.
Marlon West is doing a pushup for every life lost. Each morning, he logs onto the website ‘GunArchive.Org,’ which tracks the number of fatal shootings. As of August 16, the total was at 9,113. West does a pushup for each life lost the night before.
“It’s a good all over body exercise and for this kind of meditative thing just lowering myself to the ground and rising in honor of someone,” West said.
West grew up in St. Louis. He said he lost three cousins due to gun violence and has always been affected by that.
“When I think about the background of sadness that I carry, it’s nothing compared to someone who has lost a child, lost a parent or lost a spouse,” he said.
He now lives in LA and works for Disney as an animator. He channeled his inner creativity to come up with this idea. He said the idea is to generate a conversation about gun violence and bring awareness to how many people die every day. He hopes this small act brings some solace to those dealing with loss.
