When I was in elementary school in the early 1990s I remember seeing neighbors tie yellow ribbons around the trees in their front yard. My grandparents told me it was in support of our troops, who were overseas fighting in Operation Desert Storm. In high school, I started noticing red ribbons pinned to the shirts of classmates and learned that they were a symbol of AIDS awareness, dyed red because that’s the color of passion. The ribbon has been a symbol of awareness ever since.
In 1991, the Susan G. Komen Foundation handed out pink ribbons to participants at NYC’s race for breast cancer survivors. Later, ribbons were distributed in various New York City department stores. According to Wikipedia, “Charlotte Hayley, who battled breast cancer, produced peach color ribbons. She sold them with a card saying, “The National Cancer Institute annual budget is 1.8 billion US Dollars, and only 5 percent goes for cancer prevention. Help us wake up our legislators and America by wearing this ribbon”. It was eventually decided that the permanent color of the ribbon would be pink. It quickly became an international symbol of breast cancer awareness.
Each year breast cancer kills more than 500,000 men and women worldwide, although breast cancer in men is 100 times less likely than breast cancer in women. It is the second most common type of cancer, and the fifth most common cause of death by cancer.
