The bells could be heard in Old City. In West Philly. In North Philly. Bells ringing on a Friday afternoon to call city residents’ attention to the toll of gun violence and the need to address it.
In University City, where Penn Live Arts’ Toll the Bell event served as a focal point, the bells sounded after the event began with faith leaders speaking to the need for awareness, followed by a march throughout city streets. More than 50 people took part.
The event and sounds were meant in part to “disrupt the status quo,” said Chris Gruits, with Penn Live Arts.
“So the bell ringing is really an opportunity for us to disrupt the average day of a Philadelphian and for them to say what’s going on? Where can I find out more information?” he said.
While the core event was held in University City, Gruits said the installation, especially the sounds, were intended to reach all Philadelphians.
“The event is, at its core, a sound installation across the city and region,” he said. “There’s over 50 sites ringing church bells and making other sounds collectively at 1 o’clock for 10 minutes. But it’s also an opportunity for citizens to stop and reflect on this issue and to find out how they can get involved, and help this not be such a big issue for us in our community.”
Many faith leaders spoke at the event. Gruits said religious institutions are important in the fight against gun violence, as they help to spread the word.
“Faith-based organizations are often community hubs,” he said. “So if you think about different neighborhoods in our city — and it doesn’t matter what faith it is — these are often hubs for community members. They do a lot of outreach, they bring people together weekly and worship, and they’re really a conduit for us to get a message out.”
While there has been improvement, gun violence remains an intractable issue in Philly. There have been over 420 shooting victims in the city this year. This is about the same as this time last year, but is an overall decline from 2020 to 2023, when some months saw almost 300 shootings.
There have been 93 year-to-date homicides as of Wednesday, which is down 15% vs. last year’s pace and down 44% vs. five years ago.
Faith and the gun violence epidemic
Gruits said that beyond their community work, faith-based organizations played an important part in Friday’s event, as they were able to ring many of their own bells.
“I think, through these faith-based organizations, we were able to [encourage Philadelphians to learn more about the issue] in a really real and kind of visceral way, both through sound but also through the way these organizations work in their own neighborhoods and communities,” he said.
Ending gun violence can be synonymous with the values of different faiths, said local Rabbi Erica Steelman.
“I’m here as a clergy leader to join the effort of taking a stand to try to bring more love and peace and equity into this world and, by doing so, trying to end gun violence, which affects everyone in different ways,” she said.
She explained the bells ringing, particularly those coming from places of worship, represent a need for more peace.
“It’s interesting being in Philadelphia, where you think of the Liberty Bell, and as a rabbi, I think also of a shofar, which is the ram’s horn,” she said. “It’s a piercing sound, the horn, and I think for churches, often bells have been the sound, whether it’s to announce a wedding has happened or something momentous to get people’s attention. I think it’s about getting people’s attention and there’s something about just a piercing sound that I think we need. We keep going even though there’s this epidemic of gun violence and we need to wake up.”
She said the bell can also be a symbol of resilience through gun violence.
“There is the fear that young people have that keeps them home when they’re not in school or the fear that plagues guardians, parents, and that’s oppressive and that bell, it lets us be free, lets us be free from gun violence, but it just won’t happen without our participation,” she said.
Other faith leaders at the event called for action as well, including Kavneet Singh Pannu with the American Sikh Council.
“We know that laws matter, policing matters. But what is also needed is something deeper, something that speaks to the heart,” he said.
Pannu said the community should be fighting for better schools, housing and mental health support, among other things, that could help to end the gun violence epidemic.
Community resource organizations attending the event included The Trace, Women Against Abuse, Eddie’s House, CeaseFire PA, Friends Ending Gun Violence Collaborative of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Heeding God’s Call to End Gun Violence, and Souls Shot Portrait Project.
Personal connections
The event also allowed those with personal connections to gun violence to be heard.
This was especially true for vocalist and composer Ruth Naomi Floyd, who performed a piece she created that reflected her own experience with gun violence.
“So one day I was going to the store with my big sister and a bullet grazed my cheek, and it’s many more layers, but that kind of brought it home to me,” she said.
Floyd’s “Echoes: Shattered Flesh and Breathless Souls” featured two parts.
“The first movement is a lament, a recognizing lament, and I think in the midst of being willing to grieve and having to grieve and not having a timeline on grieving, it really is resistance to all that’s dark,” she said. “But then the second movement is rise, and gun violence won’t stop unless we rise together to break the chains of gun violence, to unite together, to love, to stand, to press on and to pray for peace.”
Floyd comes from a family of activists, one that has lost members to gun violence, she said, and she hopes her unique approach to raising awareness encourages others to think deeply about the effects of gun violence and solutions for it.
“I’ve been active in stopping gun violence over the years, and this piece is in memory of my family members who were lost to gun violence in the community and to everyone affected, whether they’re family members or parents of those who lost a life,” she said.
The event will feature a second set of performances on Saturday at Tindley Temple United Methodist at 2 p.m.
Gruits emphasized there are many opportunities to get involved moving forward.
“What we’re hoping is that this really is an invitation for all Philadelphians to learn more about the issue, to not just segment the news or compartmentalize this news, to realize that there are organizations here that have been working for decades to really stem the violence and to try to create resources for young people in our city and for people impacted by this tragedy,” he said. “And there are opportunities to get involved and support those organizations.”