Four years on, the Orlando Pulse Massacre remains one of the deadliest shootings in American history. In loving memory of those we lost, and as a call to action against police brutality, survivor Brandon Wolf has penned an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel and released a new video featuring images of the fallen.
Related: The Pulse massacre is remembered in Orlando through memorials to 49 victims
“America faces a similar crossroads today,” Wolf writes. “Will we allow this rage to devour us? Or will we honor the ones we’ve lost with action, using our fury to fight the machine that is white supremacy? We watched as a nation the killing of George Floyd. The 8 minutes and 46 seconds laid bare the casual cruelty, the normalization of police violence against black people. And the sickening knowledge that this was not an aberration.”
4 years missing your faces at parties.
4 years without your smiles.
4 years since a night out together became the night I never got to say goodbye.
4 years since a man walked into Pulse and ripped you away.
4 years and it still hurts like yesterday.#HonorThemWithAction pic.twitter.com/cUeOUTMUX1
— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) June 12, 2020
“We are faced with the opportunity to honor them with our righteous indignation — to turn it into a rallying cry for a world they would be proud of,” he continues. “A world where we face the uncomfortable tentacles of racism instead of sweeping them under the rug. A world where equity is a reality and black lives do matter. A world where “justice for all” is an institution, not a slogan. We are challenged to honor them with our voices, our votes, our commitment to facing the ugly truths of this nation, and our stubborn insistence that we deserve more. We are challenged to honor them with action.”
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In addition to his op-ed, Wolf also tweeted a memorial to his friends Christopher “Drew” Leinonen and Juan Guerrero, both of whom died in the shooting. “4 years missing your faces at parties,” he tweeted. “4 years without your smiles. 4 years since a night out together became the night I never got to say goodbye. 4 years since a man walked into Pulse and ripped you away. 4 years and it still hurts like yesterday.”
Below is a painful and important look back at the 49 members of the LGBTQ community lost in the unthinkable attack:
Kangol2
Blessings to all those who were slaughtered at Pulse in Orlando, to their friends, families and loved ones, and to all of the survivors who carry the memories and trauma with them every single day.
RFD
I will never forget and sadly it seems our country just won’t learn or change on this.
The real Bruce
Hardly seems possible it’s been four years since that horrible night. But we saw it covered on the news. We should not forget, EVER! So here we go again, on the news seeing George Floyd breathing his last. What the hell is happening to us? Black Lives Matter, Latino Lives Matter, Asian Lives Matter, Gay Lives Matter and yeah baby, ALL LIVES MATTER! Maybe we need a real “Klato” to come here and tell all of us to get real or we won’t have a planet. Think about that!
GayEGO
It is amazing that it has been 4 years. It is such a shock that this happened in 2016 when Marriage Equality became the law of the land in 2015. I stand with the comment made in the news a couple of years ago – There is one race, the human race! This means All Lives Matter!