When a tragedy like the Orlando shooting occurs, it can be hard to know how to feel. There are so many emotions and headlines jolting through phones, through conversations, and through heads. One week later and there are still so many questions. Just to start, "Why, with what motivation, and what should we do?" The hardest part is realizing most of those questions will go unanswered. We may never get anything concrete that we can stand on. But we do have one answer. What we do have is who.
Forty-nine people, aging from 18 to 50. Men, women, and children were lost. On June 12th we lost mothers, we lost brothers, we lost honor students and artists, we lost future designers, singers, photographers and friends. We lost forty-nine bright lights on this ever dimming earth. What we did not lose was our solidarity. You did not need to personally know any of the victims to feel the unadulterated, bitter weight of their deaths. As the headlines scrolled across our screens on Sunday morning, we were all given the burden of knowing that monsters are a very real thing.
"These people are monsters...we are not the monsters. The rest of us, you included, you are not the monster...And just like these make-believe monsters that people get scared of, they feed off of fear as well. And so, what we can't do, is we can not play into that. We can't let them feed off of our fear. We can't give them the pleasure of watching us, like little children, jump from the carpet to the bed. We can't let them witness us running up the basement stairs when we flip off the light. ... You cannot give into that fear. We do not have to be afraid of the dark that they live in." - Burnie Burns (Social Commentator) 4/15/13
We do not have to be afraid of the dark. Our jobs as members of the interconnected and unified community that is humanity is to remember Orlando. It is to remember every one of those snuffed lives. There is little more to say. Tragedy truncates like that. There is so much to say until you remember there isn’t. These people are not political determinants, they are not statistics, and they are not bullet points to be used to further agendas. They are people. I ask you now to read their names and remember. Even for just a moment, let them cross your mind. Remember not the hate, but remember simply that there is still more good to do.
Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old
Amanda Alvear, 25 years old
Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old
Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old
Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old
Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old
Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old
Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old
Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old
Cory James Connell, 21 years old
Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old
Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old
Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old
Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old
Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old
Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old
Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old
Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old
Frank Hernandez, 27 years old
Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old
Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old
Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old
Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old
Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old
Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old
Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old
Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old
Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old
Kimberly Morris, 37 years old
Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old
Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old
Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old
Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old
Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old
Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old
Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old
Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old
Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old
Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old
Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old
Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old
Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old
Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old
Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old
Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old
Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old
Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old
Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old
Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old
Thank you.
