Pulse Nightclub Could Re-Open in Form of Public Memorial Site to Victims
The ad-hoc and temporary memorial at the site of the Pulse Nightclub, made in the immediate aftermath of the June 12, 2016 mass killings, could expand to become a permanent memorial site dedicated to chronicling and preserving the memories and lives of the victims.
Talk of re-opening Pulse began shortly in the aftermath of the killings.
Those plans seem to have been scuttled in acceptance of the public relation and security problems such a move could raise.
Also, the site of the massacre, as well as the massive responsibility of the LGBT community to proudly honor the memories of the victims, have taken on a sincere gravity of sacrosanct-ness.
In the mainstream press and popular culture, a, “gay club,” is all that was sacrificed.
49 human beings, proudly celebrating their identities and having fun in an environment they assumed they would be safe in, were slaughtered by wannabe-terrorist and sexually-confused killer Omar Mateen.
Omar Mateen was an intermittent but frequent visitor of the Pulse nightclub, according to press reports. Mateen was welcomed into the LGBT community in Orlando, the Pulse nightclub in particular, for 2 or 3 years, according to press reports.
He enjoyed the warmth, kindness and freedoms afforded to him by people in the community.
Mateen betrayed that gesture of kindness and humanity offered from a community that is afforded neither by the world at large.
Mateen then betrayed the community again by walking back into the Pulse nightclub, where he had previously enjoyed being entertainment and friendship, and then indiscriminately shot people with an AR-15 assault rifle.
The world betrays the victims of Pulse nightclub killings when we only refer to them as just, “victims,” without finding a better way to honor their lives.
Omar Mateen should not be glamourized. But his name should not be forgotten or omitted or unspoken.
He secured his place in history. And we should never forget that what he did will only embolden others. We should be vigilant.
But the Pulse nightclub re-opening as a permanent memorial is the logical outcome to come out of a situation rife with bottomless heartache, grief and tragedy.
Barbara Poma, owner of Pulse, recently started a non-profit organization called the OnePulse Foundation.
OnePulse plans to raise publicly raise funds to build the memorial as well as to help out survivors and relatives of survivors of Pulse.
You can check the OnePulse websites for updates and progress on plans for the memorial.
