I am Maureen Kavanaugh . It is Thursday, June 2. We will have a report on Hillary Clinton's speak in San Diego when she wraps up her remarks. A busy section of Los Angeles came to a halt yesterday as police investigated two killings on the UCLA campus. Statistics tell us those victims are among the 89 people who die of gumball influence every day in the United States. A movement to tighten gun laws had been stalls and most people limit to guns. A new San Diego Proxmire was to change that approach and get people talking about gun violence and places they feel most comfortable like a barbershop or a beauty parlor. I spoke with organizers on comb with a cause project. ShaneHarris president of the national action network San Diego chapter and Cheryl Morrow Cheryl and Shane thank you for coming in . Good to be back. Why the focus on Barber shops? Barber and beauty shop professionals are the number one urban community influences all over the United States. What we've been noticing is that Barber and beauty shop professionals have been left out of the social justice and social conversation. Dr. Willy Moreau was the head of Jerry curl, so we need to hit the Barber and beauty shops with a major push on national gun violence awareness and we need to include them on the conversations that are taking place. How will those conversations start? Shane will you be visiting Barber and beauty shops to help those conversations along ? Yes. This whole month we are doing a tour. We are going to be implementing this tour. It starts on the fourth and continues every Saturday and throughout the weeks, as well. We will be touring Barber and beauty shops around California and we will be discussing with the shops in these forums that they are going to put together in each shop. We will show up, discuss violence awareness. Dr. Moreau has a lot of experience with Barber shops. He understands that is a community place. The governor comes in the disenfranchised the pastor comes in. We can have a conversation of what we can do to move from awareness to action. Cheryl taught you are the daughter of Dr. Willy Moreau. Your father is a pioneer in the barbershop business. Why would you want to bring such a contentious topic into harbor shops? The beauty salon and barbershop is a semi-relaxed environment. A topic such as this is a heated subject it has a lot of moving parts, a lot of details, a lot of data. You really can't get -- I believe the search is a spiritual place, it is not the most appropriate place to get into data and statistics and strategies of that nature. A business environment, especially as Shane said with an influencer as influential as the age of the blogger, the constant creator, journalist, people begin to trust that you are aware and you were involved. While you were sitting in a chair getting a colored job or a haircut or something that gets you in the frame of mind of relaxing, and just have some light conversation about something so heavy. For instance, Shane blacks are more likely than whites to become homicide victims. Is as a part of the conversation you expect to hear and to start while you're going around the shops? As I said, there's over 109,000 gun violence incidences in the United States. 50% of that is connected to black community. What I will say is that all communities are dealing with gun violence challenges. Many of the instances that are keeping -- taking place in the black communities is because we have not moved from awareness to action. Mayor Cannon and I discussed a strategy of implementation. We need to implement actions. Whatever that is helping people get at -- jobs, the summer is always hot time. Be able to bring positivity and awareness and entrepreneurship into our communities, so we can change and shift the conversations of negativity and gun violence that are taking place. Who is Nick Cannon? He is an actor, model, and entertainer. What matters is that he is from south the San Diego. The tour is very important in the barbershop and beauty salon environment because this is a place where we can do some correction and data. People kill where they live. Suburbia, people kill where they live, urban communities, people kill where they live. One of the things to empower and implement, you must have correct data. The awareness is correcting, demystifying, and demystifying as well, and make sure we get the information corrected, and empower with just the facts, not combative conversation. We are actually going to leave factual data, our sources are great information. Cheryl there must be divided opinions on gun and gun ownership among black African-Americans as there are among the public. How do you stop these conversations becoming more than conversations and into arguments? You push the positive event agenda. You push the agenda of the action. Action will always outweigh the negativity that comes. We deal with negativity every deed -- day. You push against the negative or agendas and the negative opinions in the other side of the tracks. You push back by pushing the positive agenda. They need to be included with the social conversations of awareness. We actually have a bullpen in our community as well. It is not just the church. It is not just the church to have the pulpit. There are people all over this country that talk to people when they cut their hair everyday. They are really connecting with people. On this gun violence awareness day, I've been speaking with pastor ShaneHarris and Cheryl Morrow of the national action network San Diego chapter. Thank you. Thank you for having us.
The day after two people died in a shooting at UCLA, gun safety groups across the nation are commemorating the second annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And one group in San Diego is taking a unique approach to curb gun deaths.
The San Diego chapter of the civil rights group National Action Network wants to get people talking about gun violence in a place where they feel comfortable: barber and beauty shops. Called the "Comb With A Cause" initiative, it's part of a larger push to have June declared National Gun Violence Awareness Month.
Shane Harris, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Action Network, told KPBS Midday Edition about the influence of barber and beauty shops in the black community, which is heavily affected by gun violence.
"There's professionals all over this country, who cut people's hair, who talk to them every day. They have a pulpit that they're really connecting with people," Shane said.
Shane will be talking about gun violence in barber and beauty shops across California starting this month. He'll be joined by local black hair care pioneer Willie Morrow and his daughter, Cheryl Morrow.
